Ambulance workers call off Friday strike
The strike was hours away, set to start Friday afternoon.
Private ambulance workers in Seattle have suspended their strike. Instead, they'll go back to bargaining over wages with their employer, American Medical Response.
The unionized paramedics and EMTs canceled the walk-out when American Medical Response agreed to restart wage talks with them.
Both parties disagree over pay. Some EMTs start at just above minimum wage, but the company says the raises it offered were rejected by the Teamsters Local 763 union.
“Our intent has always been to resolve our contract peacefully, and at the bargaining table, without interrupting vital public-health services to our community," Teamsters Local 763 secretary-treasurer Scott A. Sullivan said.
City and King County officials were pulling together backup plans in case ambulance workers didn't show up Friday.
American Medical Response also faced possible repercussions if its workers went on strike and if the company wasn't able to fulfill its city contract.
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Paige Browning
Newscaster
Paige hosts midday newscasts and monitors news of significance to the Puget Sound region. She hopped over Washington’s mountains to join KUOW, after hosting news and reporting at Spokane Public Radio since 2011. She began her start in radio while a journalism student at University of Montana, by sharing stories with KUFM. Paige was raised in the mountains and rivers around Spokane. In her spare time she cheers on the Mariners in the summer, and hopes for snow in the winter.
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