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Philadelphia Paramedics To Appeal Labor Board Ruling

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - The Philadelphia Firefighters Union is pursuing an appeal of a State Labor Relations Board ruling that said paramedics are not members.

"How can you say fire paramedics shouldn't belong in the Firefighters' Union?"

That question from union president William Gault comes after the board in a split vote agreed with the Nutter Administration that paramedics, with different training and duties, don't meet a strict definition as firefighters.

Oddly enough, it was the paramedics who argued that very thing in a federal overtime case that they won. City solicitor Shelley R. Smith:

"So once we were obligated to pay them not as firefighters then our legal obligation on behalf of the city was to clarify the bargaining unit."

Councilman Jim Kenney joins Gault in worrying that the paramedics could strike but Smith says that worst-case scenario is premature.

Reported By John Ostapkovich, KYW Newsradio

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