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 i.e. the NYPD and the FDNY by way of a new video ad. Video courtesy of FDNY EMS Local 2507

FDNY EMS Local 2507, which represents more than 4,000 emergency medical technicians (EMTs), paramedics and fire inspectors in New York City, recently launched a video ad campaign in which they urge 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 i.e. the NYPD and the FDNY.

 

With the mayor’s term ending in January 2026, EMS Local 2507 produced a 30-second radio spot and video calling on the mayor “to lift FDNY EMTs and paramedics out of poverty.” They said the lack of pay parity among the City’s EMTs has led to a 70% attrition rate among New York City’s “street doctors.”

 

They said the resulting strain on the workforce and nearly minimum wage pay of $18.94/hour (or about $12.18/hour after taxes) “is starving EMTs out of the job, and many are unable to live in New York City due to its high cost of living.”

 

They said 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, four years ago, you committed to combat current EMS poverty wages and give us pay equity with other first responders,”  Oren Barzilay, president of Local 2507, is heard saying in the ad. “We are New York City’s lowest paid municipal workers and among the least compensated medical professionals across America.”

 

Union members said the mostly female and minority workforce, some of whom, they said, 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, shootings, cardiac arrests, and strokes.

 

They said despite commitments the Adams administration and the FDNY made over decades past, members of EMS are not treated with the commensurate respect and wage equity that the City’s frontline first responder peers at the NYPD and the FDNY receive. They said EMS members simply cannot afford to live in the City they protect, and often live miles outside it, requiring hours-long commutes which turn an 8-hour shift into a 10 or 12-hour one. They said most must also have a second or third job to get by.

 

They said EMTs 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, they allege, City Hall is neglecting to invest in medical first responders, and to highlight the inequities that FDNY EMTs face both on and off the job. Union members said at the time the conditions had already become unsustainable for both the EMTs and New York City, and with a job turnover rate at a “massive and unsustainable 70%,” it has led to increased response times for emergencies, even when every second counts.

On Oct. 6, union members said the campaign aimed to highlight “the neglect medical first responders have received from City Hall,” and the strain this has put on their workforce. They said the Mayor’s Management Report showed emergency medical response times were up one minute, 47 seconds as a result of deploying fewer ambulances and crews onto the streets.

“EMTs and paramedics are courageous individuals who display inspiring commitment to keeping our city and its citizens safe and healthy,” a spokesperson for the union said. “From bringing people back to life following overdoses, to administering critical care to victims of stabbings, gunshots, cardiac arrests, and strokes, these ‘street doctors’ are a symbol of what makes our city great.” They said five years post-COVID, EMTs and paramedics are suffering and need support.