How much more than New York's minimum wage do you get paid?

[Al B. Sure!]

Accountant: $36,400
2018 New York City minimum wage (at full time): $31,200

[ricketyclik]

Paramedic’s angry Facebook post about “burger flippers" getting $15/hr goes viral.

Filed by Aimee Lutkin | Aug 03, 2015 @ 11:57am

Jens Rushing is a New York paramedic who wrote a post about the minimum wage increase that went viral:

It reads:

Fast food workers in NY just won a $15/hr wage.

I'm a paramedic. My job requires a broad set of skills: interpersonal, medical, and technical skills, as well as the crucial skill of performing under pressure. I often make decisions on my own, in seconds, under chaotic circumstances, that impact people's health and lives. I make $15/hr.

And these burger flippers think they deserve as much as me?

Good for them.

Look, if any job is going to take up someone's life, it deserves a living wage. If a job exists and you have to hire someone to do it, they deserve a living wage. End of story. There's a lot of talk going around my workplace along the lines of, "These guys with no education and no skills think they deserve as much as us? **** those guys." And elsewhere on FB: "I'm a licensed electrician, I make $13/hr, **** these burger flippers."

And that's exactly what the bosses want! They want us fighting over who has the bigger pile of crumbs so we don't realize they made off with almost the whole damn cake. Why are you angry about fast food workers making two bucks more an hour when your CEO makes four hundred TIMES what you do? It's in the bosses' interests to keep your anger directed downward, at the poor people who are just trying to get by, like you, rather than at the rich *******s who consume almost everything we produce and give next to nothing for it.

My company, as they're so fond of telling us in boosterist emails, cleared 1.3 billion dollars last year. They expect guys supporting families on 26-27k/year to applaud that. And that's to say nothing of the techs and janitors and cashiers and bed pushers who make even less than us, but are as absolutely crucial to making a hospital work as the ****ing CEO or the neurosurgeons. Can they pay us more? Absolutely. But why would they? No one's making them.

The workers in NY *made* them. They fought for and won a living wage. So how incredibly petty and counterproductive is it to fuss that their pile of crumbs is bigger than ours? Put that energy elsewhere. Organize. Fight. Win.

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

Why is an accountant earning such terrible pay?

[Jon Miller]

Assistant professor in Chile (with the strongest dollar since ~2002, 680 clp per usd instead of the 490 clp per usd when I was hired) and I still make ~60k USD.

And I may have to find a new job because the pay is too low.

JM

[regexcellent]

Oh my god, paramedics complaining about pay is adorable. Half of them are ****ing volunteers. Your pay isn't based on perceived notions of importance, it's about supply and demand. Lots of people want to be paramedics and the reality is, it isn't that hard.

And a ****ing high school student flipping burgers at McDonalds for the summer does not need a living wage, end of story.

[kentonio]

Oh my god, paramedics complaining about pay is adorable. Half of them are ****ing volunteers. Your pay isn't based on perceived notions of importance, it's about supply and demand. Lots of people want to be paramedics and the reality is, it isn't that hard.

Wow.. Presumably watching people bleed to death with parts of their faces ripped off at road accident scenes would just be a bit of a laugh for you?

[rah]

My cousin was a paramedic in Chicago and it took her years to get certified.

But reg spewing crap that he knows nothing about shouldn't really surprise anybody here.

[regexcellent]

Wow.. Presumably watching people bleed to death with parts of their faces ripped off at road accident scenes would just be a bit of a laugh for you?

People are willing to be paramedics and EMTs for very low pay. Supply clearly exceeds demand.

[kentonio]

People are willing to be paramedics and EMTs for very low pay. Supply clearly exceeds demand.

I know you find the concept of humanity a strange and alien one, but market forces don't actually drive everyone's decision making. Most of our 'perceived notions of importance' give paramedics far more importance than whatever random CEO you happen to be fapping over this week.

[rah]

Qualifications for Becoming a Paramedic
Prerequisites for Paramedics
All aspiring paramedics should earn a high school diploma or equivalent, which is a prerequisite for obtaining paramedic training. High school students who are interested in becoming paramedics can prepare by enrolling in classes such as science, health and biology. Prospective paramedics should also be able to display physical strength and a capability of performing job duties in challenging situations.

EMT Training

Before beginning an EMT-Paramedic program, students must first complete EMT-Basic and EMT-Intermediate training. The basic program focuses on the core subjects of emergency medical training and combines hands-on field training in emergency rooms or ambulances with classroom lectures. Coursework can include respiratory and cardiac emergencies, patient assessment and trauma response

The intermediate program typically requires clinical experience hours, which can vary depending on state requirements. With training that continues on EMT-Basic program principles, students take coursework on how to administer medications, utilize intravenous fluids and control airway devices

Paramedic Training
Once students reach this final level of EMT training, they will study advanced medical theory as well as principles of physiology and anatomy. Paramedic training is available through certificate and associate's degree programs.

Paramedic certificate programs generally take one year to complete, and programs are designed for students who only want certification as an EMT-Paramedic. These programs do not generally require any prerequisites and do not include any basic skills courses.

Associate's degree programs like the Associate of Applied Science (AAS) in Paramedic or AAS EMT Paramedic can take two years to complete. Paramedic coursework in the certificate or associate's degree programs can cover areas such as trauma scenarios and management, clinical decision-making, advanced medical procedures and considerations, medical terminology and EMT rescue.

Complete Licensure
All paramedics are required to be licensed, which includes meeting requirements like EMT-Basic certification, completing an EMT-Paramedic course and having CPR training. In addition to educational requirements, paramedics must display a high level of physical fitness, which will be tested during examinations.

Paramedics must either pass the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians (NREMT) test or a state exam in order to become licensed by the state in which they work (www.nremt.org). The NREMT test covers areas that prospective paramedics have covered through their EMT training and will use as paramedics, such as trauma patient assessment, psychomotor skills and cardiac management.

Considerably more requirements then necessary to flip burgers.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Though, in addition, as some one who tends to get fast food (I don't like bringing a lunch to work), I don't think I've seen a teenager work at a fast food restaurant in a pretty long time.

[rah]

When I'm in downtown I don't see any but out in the burbs they're not that uncommon.

[Dauphin]

Why is an accountant earning such terrible pay?

Because he's only qualified to be a marine.

[N35t0r]

I'm a paramedic. [...] I often make decisions on my own, in seconds, under chaotic circumstances, that impact people's health and lives.

TBH, so do burger flippers at rush hour

[N35t0r]

I'm making less than that, but the countrie's situation isn't the best, I still haven't finished my degree, and my department is being restructured (I'll ask for a ~30% raise after they train me for my new position)