SAN MARCOS — On Monday, Jan. 13, representatives from the Hays County EMS and Hays County EMS Association, CWA Local 6115 signed a ceremonial Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).
A CBA is “an agreement between the employees and the employer that established the guidelines for compensation, benefits, discipline [and] overall working conditions between the two,” according to Zack Phillips, the president of the Hays County EMS Association, CWA Local 6115.
The Hays County EMS Association is the organization that “represents the voice and wants of the field staff, essentially. We do the collective bargaining and then, we represent employees in any type of disciplinary meetings or grievances with the company,” Phillips continued.
There are a few reasons why a CBA was sought between these two parties. First, it changes the employment type, from at-will to just-cause. This means that there has to be a justified reason to terminate an employee, even though Texas is an atwill state, according to Phillips.
The second reason for a CBA, in this case, was to “safeguard and ensure the fair and equitable compensation and rights of EMS providers. Fire, police, nursing, they all have unions that represent them in agreements for their employment. EMS has kind of been that left out outlier for years. So, this just gives a voice and actually brings everybody kind of up to par within the EMS,” said Phillips, who added that part of the agreement was to add raises for the EMS staff and change their holiday pay.
“We changed the start times of our crews from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m.. Working on insurance benefits right now, 401(k) over the next four years is going to go from a 7% match at one to one to a 10% match at two to one over the next four years in a gradual step process. So, a lot of big benefits there,” said Phillips. “We've added language stipends. So, if you are bilingual, we are paying for that. [We've added] degree stipends; if you have education, a degree from an institute of higher learning, you'll get a monthly stipend for that, as well. Things like that are what we worked into our contract.”
According to Phillips, the agreement will make for a better relationship between the company and its employees.
“The agreement, it gives us a solid foundation between the two parties. We've been working very well together since the signing,” said Phillips. “I talked to the chief now probably once a day, at least during the week. We've had meetings over the last couple of weeks. We're very much like minded in the moving forward with the company.”
Phillips believes that the signing of the CBA will also benefit the citizens of Hays County.
“The agreement will definitely strengthen those services amongst the providers that work for San Marcos Hays County EMS,” said Phillips. “One of the slogans we had pitched for a while was, ‘Our working conditions are our patient care conditions.’
So, you know, happy, healthy, competent employees provide competent services.”
“I will say one of the dangers and cautions that kind of is out there at that last ceremonial signing that was one of our board meetings,” continued Phillips, “The company's board did appoint the president of ESD No. 9 to the president of our company, which could have some detrimental impact on both citizens and EMS services county wide.”
According to Phillips, “ESD No. 9 is a taxing entity that pays San Marcos Hays County EMS. So, now, with this person being the president of this government agency and the president of the private agency, she's signing the front and the back of the check, essentially. So, there is some conflict of interest, and some worrisome areas there that we're looking at and this is in an effort to try to dismantle the company from within, due to us unionizing. So, not everybody is on board.”
For more information about the Hays County EMS Association, visit www.cwa-local-6115.com.
