The head of the New York City Medical Services Union said Wednesday the city is preparing to lay off hundreds of its members as the budget crisis grows amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Oren Barzilay, president of FDNY EMS Local 257, accused Mayor Bill de Blasio and his administration of the expected fallout.
“Even with the threat of a second wave of COVID-19 and two recent outbreaks in Brooklyn, Bill de Blasio and his team at City Hall want to balance the city’s budget on our backs, eliminating each of 400 positions for medical responses and each puts the New Yorker’s life at risk, ”he said in a statement.
Bill Neidhardt, press secretary to Mayor Bill de Blasio, did not reject the plans.
“To be clear: City Hall does not want these layoffs to happen, but this is the hole we are in without an incentive or lending authority,” he said in a statement. “Our EMTs and firefighters save lives every day and we work with their unions to find staff savings to prevent layoffs, but unfortunately all agencies will have layoffs.”
No termination notices have been issued as both sides continue to discuss ways to save the city money.
“Yesterday we were praised as heroes, essential workers saved lives,” Barzilay said. “Today, the city government treats us like zeros. New Yorkers who have lived through this deadly pandemic know otherwise.”
The Blasio has said the city needs to cut as many as 22,000 workers because it has to deal with declining contributions from the state and a tax base decimated by people leaving the city, a burnt out Broadway, and a nearly non-existent tourist sector.
The city’s emergency medical technicians and paramedics responded to record calls in March and early April, peaking at about 6,500 calls a day.
The EMTs and paramedics were not immune to COVID-19. At its peak, nearly 1 in 4 were sick when the virus destroyed New York City, killing more than 23,000 residents.
Dennis Romero contributed.
