Thirty unionized emergency medical technicians and paramedics who serve Fremont County say they will walk off the job Sept. 28 because county officials appear poised to allow a contract with their employer, Tennessee-based Priority Ambulance, to expire.
The first responders, organized under United Steel Workers Local 9012, had an understanding with the county, according to Local 9012 President Dominick Sapien. If voters approved a ¾-cent sales tax — a portion of which would be dedicated to funding ambulance and EMT services — the county would extend its contract with Priority Ambulance long enough to eventually take over responsibility for the service under the Fremont County Association of Governments. That would provide a more stable service, Sapien said, along with state-level salaries and benefits.
County voters approved the tax in the Aug. 18 primary election.
But the Fremont County Board of Commissioners voted Tuesday to instead negotiate with Cody Regional Health. The county’s contract with Priority Ambulance, which operates under the name Frontier Ambulance in Fremont County, is set to expire in October. Its tentative agreement with Cody Regional Health would begin Oct. 1 and last for about a year while the county considers a more permanent strategy.
If the county goes with Cody Regional, the EMTs would no longer be able to bargain as a union.
“We knocked on hundreds of doors to get this [tax] passed,” Sapien told WyoFile. “We find out that the county commissioners are now talking to Cody Regional Health to come in and take the ambulance service. They’re trying to bring in this third party that doesn’t recognize unions. It feels as though it’s a move to bust our union so, that way, we have no negotiating power.”
In response, 21 of the union’s members voted to strike, beginning Sept. 28.
Two commissioners reached by WyoFile on Thursday said their beef is with Priority Ambulance, and that they had made no such deal with the union.
“Let ’em,” commissioner Jennifer Wilson said.
“[Priority Ambulance] just didn’t want to play ball,” Wilson continued, adding that the company has continued for years to demand “exorbitant” fees. “We tried to negotiate, but they wanted to just sit there and put the gun back to our head again, and we’re sick and tired of it.”
Wilson, and Commission Chairman Larry Allen, told WyoFile there was never an agreement with the EMTs regarding the passage of the optional sales tax and eventually bringing them in as county employees, much less any other scenario to afford them the opportunity to remain unionized.
“My understanding,” Wilson said, “is Cody [Regional Health] is going to pay them even better. So what are they hollering about?”
Due to continual staffing issues, the EMTs frequently work 72 hours a week or more, Sapien said. Being able to organize for bargaining power is vital, no matter the employer, he added. Because EMTs are dedicated to saving lives, employers regard them as people who can be stretched to the breaking point, and they’ll still come to work.
“Our people are out here saving lives, helping others, and making less that I could going to work at McDonalds,” Sapien said.
The county isn’t giving up on the idea of eventually building a self-sustaining EMT service, Wilson said. But they don’t want to do it with Priority Ambulance. “They can go away, and I never want to hear about them again,” Wilson said. “We’re paying a company to use all of our stuff and [they keep asking for] more and more money.”
Meantime, the county needs Cody Regional Health’s help, she added.
“[Cody Regional Health has] got a really good reputation. We’ve got some bumpy roads coming ahead, you know, to get all this lined out and to get people to fill these ambulance spots.”
To those saying the union needs to listen: the county commissioners have neglected planing since December of 2025 despite repetitive requests for discussion. They put off communicating with Frontier (a company they brought in after the last private company they brought in decided to leave… this has been a pattern for the past 10 years or so. There have been 3-4 private companies in that time.) The commissioners have refused discussions with FCAG, a group that came together to do what the commissioners refused to, which is to find a sustainable EMS service for the county. The commissioners finally reached out to Frontier for a 9 month extension in June. Frontier stated they were willing to do a one year extension. Commissioners proceeded to ghost, like that toxic ex you had back in Highschool. Commissioners have held private meetings away from the public eye, and away from those it would most effect with no chance for input. When we talked with the public for the 3/4% tax, they were very clear that they wanted a county run service so that they could have a say on where their tax money went. The consistent comments I received from the public is they are furious with these commissioners for what they claim to be “financial mishandling” on the part of the commissioners. Please note the recent unanimous vote commissioners made to increase their own salaries (elected officials) by 22% for the next 4 years. It’s not hollering when they want to have a say in their salary. Also note that this means they make approximately, at what is considered a part-time job, upwards of $43 an hour, if they work 960 hours a year, seeing as the minimum numbers of hours to actually work is a bar laid on the floor. To be fair there is no maximum either. Commissioners put in a hiring freeze in the middle of us working 88+ hours a week, 72 hours on 72 hours off at the least. We have done this voluntarily to get us all through this rough patch. We have been bending over backwards. We are getting increasingly closer to 1/8 of staffing. My coworkers are dead tired and have been doing this for months. Those that were going to come in and alleviate some of that burden have had the rug pulled out from under them as well. Commissioners decided that instead of an extension with the current company they would take a non-binding letter of intent. This reckless behavior is leaving the county with no EMS past October 1st as Cody Regional only has a letter of intent with a start date of December 1st. We spoke with Phil Franklin of Cody Regional. He told us he would start from scratch. The issue here is that is throwing away 4+ years of hard work that has drastically improved working conditions. Obviously it is not perfect now, but you should read what it looked like 4 years ago when we first planned to strike. We have put in safety practices like the fatigue policy and emergency staffing plans. We the workers have essentially been taking what little resources we’ve had and figuring out how to benefit everyone to the best of our ability. If anyone should get a say in how things are run, it is us, the ones who do the job and are directly effected by changes. We are more than willing to negotiate what is reasonable and we can and have compromised in the past. But we will not be pushed around more than we have been already. The reason we are “hollering” is we have been the ones with boots on the ground building things out of the muck and mire of a situation left to us. We’ve been answering the call above and beyond what is expected of our EMTs and paramedics. We have been working tirelessly so that we can save lives. How are we repaid? We are threatened by the situation with no job and threatened by the county attorney with being fired. Those of us who have been here for years and fighting the good fight for our community are not assured jobs. We would have to reapply. It really doesn’t matter what we could hypothetically make if we don’t actually have a job. Onboarding takes weeks and months. Many of us would be demoted from Intermediate EMTs (ALS providers) to Advanced EMTs (BLS providers) as certain state certifications and licenses would not be recognized. Those who have been grandfathered in, in accordance with Wyoming state law, would lose their jobs completely. The strain on the paramedics would be crushing. We really have no other options. We are either jobless and without EMS beginning of October or we are between jobs till December with no say. We would love nothing more than to find a mutually agreeable solution. The county commissioners are being completely unreasonable and when called out, have the audacity to point fingers at the company they brought in and make it out like we’re children throwing a fit. The way I see it, the only ones putting gun’s to the backs of anyone’s head’s are the commissioners to the people they should be stewards of and your small town EMTs.
Unionized EMT’s in BFE Wyoming? I would never have guessed such a thing was even possible. The world truly has been turned upside down.
Where’s our taxes going we just voted for to help pay our emts? Why are you still causing our town so much trouble?
Strikes happen when workers don’t feel valued or heard. The commissioner who said, “Let ’em.” is not signaling any intent to listen or care. The commissioners are similarly expressing exasperation that they are not being heard by Priority Ambulance, so they are walking away. United Steel Workers has the opportunity to bring down the temperature by listening to all parties and bringing everyone to the table to find solutions. I hope they step up and get it done.