Suffolk County EMS
EMSPAC Long Island — Nassau and Suffolk statement
For about six months, a group of NCPD-EAB, Northwell and firehouse-based EMS in Nassau and Suffolk worked quietly to bring EMSPAC to Long Island's approximately 50,000 EMS members of service. We are launching EMSPAC initiatives specific to the Long Island EMS systems.
Inside the EMSPAC chain of command and responsibility, Nassau is D-6 and Suffolk is D-7. An emerging leadership is assessing the strategy for ongoing organizing. An equal deputy and advocate composition — even parts Northwell, NCPD, firehouse-based and VAC — is the ultimate goal.
Things are completely different from the city. There are far more firehouse-based EMS, many paying per diem medics. Some dual FF-EMS are in the IAFF. There are far more volunteer corps, including many that partially pay medics.
Nassau and Suffolk have been broken into 16 organizing zones based on highways and fire districts. We have cut each county north, south, east and west and are seeking deputies for each battalion. Every system is different. Suffolk is always short on volunteers, and more paid posts are coming. The way EMS is deployed between one county and the next varies radically.
The biggest issues
- Wages, benefits, and full-time work.
- Ending the “Suffolk shuffle” — working many separate VAC and firehouse-based per diems — and professionalizing EMS in Nassau and Suffolk.
- Phasing out the slowly dying VAC system, especially in Suffolk.
- Arbitrary fire district rules. Nassau has 9 battalion areas; Suffolk has 10.
- Aspiration for a large singular EMS union.
Who employs Long Island EMS
The largest employer is non-union Northwell, with around 800–1,000 EMS members of service, followed by NCPD-EAB with around 200 in CSEA Local 830 — a single medic-PD based system. There are around 50 Suffolk County FF/EMS medics in the IAFF. The biggest privates are SCEMS, Ambulnz, EAS and Hunter-GMR. The biggest hospital-based agencies are Northwell, Stony Brook, NUMC to a lesser degree, and non-union NYU Wingate.
Biggest in Nassau: Northwell, EAB, Oceanside FD, Syosset FD, Jericho FD. Biggest in Suffolk: Brentwood Legion, Huntington, Community, Bayshore Brightwater, and Stony Brook EMS, which is in a state union.
Where organizing stands
So far there has been less Long Island interest in hardship help and more in labor organizing. There is also real fear about joining EMSPAC openly at Northwell CEMS. Volunteering is a far more normal part of EMS on Long Island, and most volunteers also work in paid EMS. A new law lets VAC and FD-based EMS bill, which has big implications for hiring.
Northwell versus EAB is a significant divide, and uniting these services is seen as a critical strategy on the Long Island front. Northwell workers have passed on 1199 twice in elections and are currently being courted by the Teamsters, who represent Lifeline and Midwood Ambulance, and by CSEA, who represent NCPD-EAB and have recently unionized Nova and Bangs near Ithaca. The IAFF is mostly in Dix Hills, Long Beach and Terryville FD; we seek an alliance with it.
Organize where you work.
EMSPAC is all-active-duty and all-volunteer. Joining is what lets us respond to hardships, push advocacy, and build a national organization around our demands.