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** Omaha, Nebraska paramedic/fire union victorious over mayor on response times

** Omaha, Nebraska’s mayor has said she will appeal an arbitrator’s ruling that says the city must hire more paramedics and firefighters in order to adhere to the labour contract governing their employment. That is the word from the Associated Press (September 16) which quoted Jean Stothart as saying abittrators should not be able to make budgetary decisions best left in the hands of city council members. John Sass’ ruling relates to a July 2013 grievance which alleged the city violated the contract stipulation mandating EMS and fire must attempt to adhere to national standards. Sass said extra lengthy response times fail to meet those said standards. As a result of his dictate, the city must now write a report on how best to bring response times into line. The Omaha World-Herald (Roseann Moring/September 16) said Sass also ordered that an additional fire truck or medic unit must now be put into service, and that an existing medic unit tagged for deletion remain in service. Pending the outcome of the appeal, Stothert said no additional vehicles would be placed on the road.