FDNY EMS Union: Mayor Adams Can Fulfill Past Campaign Promise For Pay Parity For FDNY EMTs
Editor’s note: We have covered this issue before, regarding wage equity between FDNY EMS and other front-line first responders. These workers are currently paid only around the new minimum wage in the City, making it difficult for them to make ends meet. Primarily staffed by women and people of color, these are among the lowest paid city workers. The FDNY recently announced they were hiring for new workers to fill these positions. See below for a video asking Mayor Adams to keep his campaign promise before he leaves office:
NEW YORK, NY — FDNY EMS Local 2507, which represents more than 4,000 emergency medical technicians (EMTs), paramedics and fire inspectors in New York City, is urging New York City Mayor Eric Adams to fulfill a commitment from his 2021 mayoral campaign to grant FDNY EMS wage equity with other New York City, front-line first responders, including New York’s Finest and Bravest.
With the mayor’s term ending in January 2026, EMS Local 2507 has just produced a 30 second radio spot and video calling on the mayor to lift FDNY EMTs and paramedics out of poverty. The lack of pay parity has led to a 70% attrition rate among New York City’s “Street Doctors.”
The resulting strain on the workforce and nearly minimum wage pay of $18.94/hour is starving EMTs out of the job, and many are unable to live in New York City due to its high cost of living.
Despite responding to 1,630,466 medical emergencies in 2024, a stark 15.4% increase or 217,756 additional 911 emergency medical calls annually since the start of the pandemic in 2020, the FDNY is now deploying fewer ambulances and crews on New York City streets.
“Mayor Adams, 4-years ago you committed to combat current EMS poverty wages and give us pay equity with other first responders,” said Oren Barzilay, president of Local 2507, in the radio spot. “We are New York City’s lowest paid municipal workers and among the least compensated medical professionals across America.”
This mostly female and minority workforce, some of whom live in homeless shelters, in cars or rely on SNAP and HUD Section 8 Housing programs, are on the front lines across New York administering critical care to victims of stabbings, gunshots, cardiac arrests and strokes. They are placed into dangerous situations on a daily basis, risking their own lives and facing harassment, as they are frequently attacked by patients.
“Now is the chance to make it right,” continued Barzilay. “Lift our EMTs and paramedics out of poverty.”
FDNY EMS Local 2507 launched its #StandwithEMS public awareness campaign in October 2025 to increase awareness of how City Hall is neglecting to invest in these medical first responders and to highlight the inequities that FDNY EMTs face both on and off the job.
Banner Image: FDNY EMS. Image Credit – alanbatt
