Why Isn’t the City Taking Care of First Responders?

By: Assemblywoman Stacey Pheffer Amato

I want to say this very loudly: EMS workers save lives. They work in some of the most difficult and stressful conditions and when we have an emergency they come to help us. We call them “street doctors” for a reason. Yet in an incredibly disappointing move, they aren’t paid the hero salary they deserve. In fact, they’re not even paid a living wage. Instead, it has been almost 4 years since they’ve had a contract and years without a salary increase. One might think this would be a top priority for the Mayor or the New York City Council as this is a service that means life or death. However, last year the City Council used its time to vote on a new starting salary for Uber and Lyft drivers at $21 an hour; and last week the City Council voted to extend that salary increase to food delivery workers. Guess whose salaries didn’t get raised? Yup, EMS.

While we can all appreciate the need to pay workers a decent salary, I think putting a focus on delivery workers instead of the men and women who come to our aid during an emergency is a bit misguided. This is not meant to be a bashing of delivery workers, after all, my son worked hard during several summers as a food delivery worker. But the City Council and Mayoral Administration's failure to address this situation has caused us to be in a serious staffing crisis. With some of the lowest numbers of first responders in our City’s history, along with recruitment levels at an all-time low, no wonder the average response time for life-threatening medical emergencies is 12.35 minutes in 2025, alarmingly up from 11.87 minutes in 2024. I call out the City Council and this Mayor for this problem. Their actions, or lack of, have made it so you can be an Uber or food delivery worker and earn $21 an hour, yet our EMS workers earn $18 an hour. At the very least, can’t the City Council take care of both? Is this not a priority? I think it is!

As a State elected official, I wasn’t going to stand by and do nothing for our heroic first responders. This year, with the partnership of Local 2507 and Local 3621, the unions that represent the amazing men and women who serve as NYC EMS workers, I introduced and passed several bills to give them protections, parity, and respect. This includes A.7356 which sets a minimum staffing requirement so our first responders aren’t alone when responding to a call. And through A.5771, we amended their pension plan so NYC EMS workers can retire after 25 years of heroic service of saving lives - just like some of their other colleagues in similar fields.

I bring this up because actions speak louder than words. For nearly 4 years the Mayor has repeatedly failed to ratify or agree to a new contract. In addition, the City Council has refused to take up any legislation to give them a pay raise. How is that acceptable? There must be something wrong with this system if the Chairs of the Committees on Fire and Emergency Management, or Health, or Public Safety can’t even get any legislation enacted to increase their salaries. I’m disappointed and I’m sure you are too.

Our first responders can’t live on a starting salary of $39,386. The question seems to be that if the City Council or this Mayoral Administration can’t do what’s needed, let alone right, does the State have to step in once again? After all, it was through my legislation on the State level that got our police officers, detectives, sergeants and lieutenants within the NYPD a pay increase (A.5202 from 2024, and A.5376 from 2025) because the City wouldn’t do anything to address their staffing crisis. If this continues to be ignored then this will have to be addressed when I return to Albany.

I want to clarify that the problems we are facing as a City are not the fault of any of the first responders who come to our aid. We need them, which is why it’s time for the City to pay them what they deserve. I call on the City government to do right by our emergency medical service workers. Unless things change, and I’m not being dramatic, it might be easier for us to get a ride to the hospital from an Uber or Grubhub driver than a trained medical professional. If you feel strongly about this issue, make sure to take a moment to contact Mayor Adams at mayoreric@cityhall.nyc.gov or through the website at www.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/mayor-contact.page and tell him to do right by our first responders with a new contract. If our City elected officials won’t do anything on their own then it’s time for us to get loud and force their hand.