GREENFIELD — American Medical Response (AMR) of Springfield and Greenfield may go on strike this Sunday after union leaders say attempts to negotiate for retroactive pay and to secure a contract clause allowing first responders the right to refuse to cross a picket line have been unsuccessful.

Bryan Donovan Jr., president of Teamsters Local 404 who serves as the union representative for AMR Greenfield and Springfield, said in an interview on Wednesday that after the ambulance service and union could not reach an agreement in the union’s negotiations, the union approved a 10-day strike authorization on Thursday, Nov. 14.

“We represent members over there that are good Samaritans,” Donovan said of AMR’s employees. “They’re loyal to the company, they’re loyal to each other and they are very loyal to their patients — that has been exploited for far too long by this company.”

Donovan said the Teamsters first attempted to negotiate with AMR in April and faced “delay tactics” in response, causing the company to face National Labor Relations Board charges for allegedly neglecting to negotiate in good faith with the union.

Because of this delay, Donovan said the Teamsters also negotiated for retroactive pay in an effort to bring workers’ salaries in line with “industry standards,” as well as for a clause allowing AMR first responders the right to refuse to cross a picket line unless doing so is necessary in a “life-threatening situation.”

“We negotiated until Thursday (Nov. 14) morning, at 2 a.m. and we left there feeling very good about what was going to happen. Thursday afternoon, the company came back and said that they would not agree to several of parts of our language,” Donovan said. “The company felt that it was their duty to discipline anybody who wanted to respect a picket line. We didn’t agree with that. We’re Teamsters. We don’t cross picket lines.”

Although Donovan said the Teamsters negotiated for a 20-30% wage increase to bring AMR workers up to industry standards, AMR stated, in a “Contract Fact Sheet” sent to the Greenfield Recorder, that the union requested “an average increase of 21% for all employees.” AMR reportedly responded to the union with an offer of an average first-year wage increase of 25%, along with an “overall 35% wage increase over four years.”

“All of our offers, when it came to wages, were always above that of what was being proposed to us,” AMR Regional Director Patrick Leonardo said. “We were prepared from the beginning to have these adjustments in place anyway, because we understand that the work that our employees do is critical to the communities they serve.”

AMR also claims that, in response to the Teamsters’ request for retroactive pay, the company offered ratification bonuses of $5,000 for full-time employees and $1,500 for part-time employees upon contract signing.

The company stated that it also offered the Teamsters fully employer-paid health benefits for employee premiums and 80% employer-paid health benefits for family plans; enhanced retirement benefits, including a dollar-for-dollar 401K match of up to 4%; and increased holiday benefits.

“That language [in the picket line clause] is not language that we are going to negotiate into a contract, because it goes against all of our core values, but it also leaves open a very gray area as to who actually is interpreting what a life-threatening emergency is,” Leonardo said. “This is not a service that anybody can dispute, that we can pause or delay any kind of response to people’s lives when lives are at stake, and we cannot enter an argument as to what will be or not constitute a life-saving emergency as a call is happening and our employees have a duty to respond.”

In the event of a strike, Donovan said other emergency response services across AMR’s region would fill in for the expected lapse in emergency service. Leonardo added that AMR aims to take any measures necessary to continue emergency services.

“We don’t take this lightly. We are not delivering UPS packages here, we’re dealing with the lives of people and their loved ones who are needing care on an emergency or non-emergency basis to get to appointments or follow-ups,” Leonardo said. “I can reaffirm that we have very aggressive contingency plans in place. We understand the importance of continuing service without any interruption to the city of Greenfield, and we’re 150% committed to doing that.”

Anthony Cammalleri can be reached at acammalleri@recorder.com or 413-930-4429.