Hawaii Medics, EMTs to Try Longer Shifts

Aug. 13--Officials with the city and United Public Workers union announced a new agreement Tuesday that allows paramedics and emergency medical technicians to work longer shifts in exchange for shorter workweeks.

There will also be less overtime but more take-home base pay under a plan designed to boost employee morale while cutting back on worker shortages and ballooning overtime costs.

Most schedules will go to three- and four-day 12-hour workweeks from the current five-day, eight-hour week under the yearlong pilot project expected to begin Aug. 31, Mayor Kirk Caldwell and UPW State Director Dayton Nakanelua said at a Honolulu Hale news conference.

If successful, the change would become permanent in a new contract after the year is over.

The plan is expected to help with staff shortages that the Department of Emergency Services has been hit with in recent months. Some Emergency Medical Services Division stations were forced to shut down for certain weekend shifts because of the shortages.

The change is also intended to benefit the Emergency Medical Services Division paramedics and EMTs by allowing them to work fewer weekend shifts and by giving them more days off. They will also see a slight bump in overall pay by gaining compensation for meals and night differential pay that amounts to $1 an hour.

Mark Rigg, emergency services director, said he's hopeful the new financial incentives give EMTs and paramedics what amounts to a 20 percent increase in take-home pay.

According to EMS, field operation supervisors will be paid $89,860 to $102,185, up from the $70,692-$80,388 they now make. An EMT IIwould now make $57,110 instead of between $44,928 and $57,110, EMSsaid.

Rigg said he's hopeful it will make it easier for the department to fill its vacancies and retain employees. "And when we fill our vacancies, we'll be able to open more units. This is a very busy city, and EMSis taxed, especially in town."

"For years and years and years now, these folks have been way overworked," Caldwell said. "It's all about making sure that those guys who are on the front line of saving lives are treated more fairly, are given more certainty about their work schedule so that they're rested in between, so that they can go home and take care of their families."

But while there seems to be full agreement on converting to 12-hour shifts, at least 75 of Oahu's 200 paramedics and EMTs signed a petition opposing the 12-to-12 shift times.

Caldwell and Nakanelua acknowledged the concerns and said city and union officials will meet every three months to make adjustments to address employee concerns as needed.

Nakanelua said there was a difference of opinion among members about when the shift times would start and end and that ultimately a negotiating committee came up with 12-to-12. "There is opportunity for tweaking and change."

"Like any pilot, we're rolling it out to see what works best,"Caldwell said. "We want to accommodate the work schedules of members. Should adjustments need to be made, they'll look at it very closely at least quarterly, if not sooner."

Another concern was a change in shift selection that will now give priority to district and station supervisors over lower-ranked paramedics and EMTs, even if they have more seniority. Until now, seniority has trumped rank in who gets first crack at schedule selection.

But Nakanelua said the change reflects "a provision that already exists in our collective bargaining agreement" and brings practice into compliance with what's been in the contract for a number of years.

The department is hoping to eliminate mandatory overtime as a result of the switch to 12-hour days. Rigg said the department should save about $1.5 million annually. The city has been paying paramedics and EMTs about $5 million in overtime annually.

As part of the agreement, the city consented to a waiver sought by the union prohibiting the investigation of possible sick leave abuse for the life of the pilot project.

"We wanted to enter into this pilot on a very positive, no-fault basis,"Nakanelua said.

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