FDNY's firefighters and EMS workers are boycotting New York City's Hometown Heroes ticker-tape parade Wednesday.
In a message to members, according to the New York Daily News, the Uniformed Firefighters Association said it was too soon to celebrate the end of the COVID-19 pandemic when first responders are still on the front lines of the crisis. In fact, one of its members is currently in the ICU with the virus, the union added.
“Our members are still risking their lives daily by exposing themselves to COVID-related illnesses,” the message to members stated.
Staying out of the parade honoring first responders, health care workers and other essential employees is a protest the lower pay union members receive among first responders, Oren Barzilay, president of the Uniformed EMTs, Paramedics and Fire Inspectors union, told WCBS-TV. An EMT's starting salary is about $35,000, compared to $45,000 for a firefighter and $42,500 for a police officer.
“We believe New York’s brave essential workers should be recognized in a meaningful way, but the public display from the de Blasio administration is all optics and no substance,” Barzilay told the Daily News.
Barzilay added that attending the parade—except for those members who were there on work assignments—would be akin to crossing a picket line.
“A parade does not bring this workforce out of the poverty wages they are now being paid," he added. "It is far past time that the city gives this workforce the respect they deserve in livable wages. If taxpayer dollars can be allocated to put on this parade, then Mayor Bill de Blasio, you can easily find the means to financially support our FDNY EMT’s, Paramedics and Fire Inspectors.”
The EMS workers union has been working on a new contract with the city for the past three years, and talks continue.
"Negotiations with the union are ongoing, and we’re looking forward to a fair outcome,” Mitch Schwartz, a mayor's office spokesman, told the News. “We urge all New Yorkers to join us in honoring the frontline heroes who did so much to fight back COVID-19.”
New York City's Hometown Heroes parade begins at 10 a.m. Wednesday and proceeds through the city's Canyon of Heroes. The parade will feature more than a dozen floats and around 2,500 people will participate.
Watch video of the parade here.
