With unanimous support, paramedics and EMTs form a union with AFSCME in Montana

[Omaha Steve]

Staff at AMR Bozeman, Montana, formed a union through AFSCME Council 9. Photo credit: Tyler Holmes.

https://www.afscme.org/blog/with-unanimous-support-paramedics-and-emts-form-a-union-with-afscme-in-montana

By Aaron Gallant · Monday, April 22, 2024

Faced with low pay, high turnover and faulty equipment, a group of dedicated EMTs and paramedics at AMR Bozeman voted unanimously to form a new union.

These new union members made history in February as the first EMS workers to form a union with AFSCME Council 9 and the first AMR employees to unionize in Montana.

“We really love what we do, we want to be helping people,” said Chris Dooley, who left his career in human resources to become an EMT. “But we need to make enough money to get by.”

Their pleas to management for better equipment, like new ambulances that can safely transport patients in Bozeman’s mountainous terrain, also went unresolved.

FULL story at link above.