By JAY GOETTING

Register Staff Writer

Piner’s Napa Ambulance workers who are members of the National Emergency Medical Services Association took to the streets on Friday to show their displeasure with the impasse at which they find themselves in negotiations with the firm.

About 50 Piner’s employees, joined by family members and participants from allied organizations, walked an informational picket line as cars and trucks whizzed by the California Boulevard and Pueblo Avenue location. Shouts from the pickets, a resounding boom box and honks of support lent to an almost festive atmosphere.

Talks are halted after at least 23 negotiating sessions over the past year. Piner’s general manager Stewart Slipiec said there has been a lot of give and take, and they have gotten some things done, but the union representatives walked out of a recent negotiating session in frustration.

He said part of the problem is that this is a first-time contract, so they are starting from scratch. NEMSA gained the right to represent the 65 Piner’s emergency services workers throughout Napa County following a vote in April 2005. The voting employees favored the union by a vote of 32 to 17 at the time.

One worker on the picket line, Rustin Willis, said the union sentiment is even stronger now and said of the bogged-down talks, “They think it’s about money, but it’s about fair and equal treatment.”

Several people from other agencies joined the line as well. Albert Burgess, a Napa city firefighter emphasized he doesn’t speak for his association but feels there is support for the Piner’s workers there. His wife is an EMS worker.

Early in the picketing, several Napa police black and whites showed up in response to a trespass call. The issue was quickly resolved. There were no confrontations, and Slipiec came out at one point and chatted with several of his employees.

Earlier in the day, a hearing officer in Santa Rosa heard several complaints charging Piner’s with unfair labor practices including a dismissal and disciplinary action. Another hearing is scheduled before federal mediator Lydia Bacha on Aug. 14 in San Francisco.

The National Labor Relations Board has half a dozen pending complaints for alleged labor law violations over the past year. Slipiec said those that have been heard so far have been dismissed.

Slipiec said he hopes the unrest doesn’t lead to a walkout. “We perform a very vital task in the community,” he said. “The employees were asked and said they do not want to go out on strike.”

Torren Colcord of NEMSA said a strike option is “always on the table. They’re not budging, and we’ve withdrawn five proposals to see if we could get things moving again.”

Slipiec said he would prefer no union, adding conditions are better at Piner’s than other nearby ambulance operations. Piner’s operates seven sub-stations throughout the county with lounges and sleeping quarters for workers who can work flexible schedules allowing them to hold other jobs, go to school or have extended periods off.

“I’m getting the sense (the unionized workers) don’t have very strong backing,” he said.

Piner’s expressed a willingness to return to the bargaining table. “We hope to continue negotiations to reach a fair and amicable settlement in the near future,” said Slipiec. “In the meantime, we will conduct business as usual to provide excellent care to our patients.”

Piner’s Napa Ambulance has operated in Napa for more than six decades. It also has a guest and nursing home, oxygen and welding supplies, and runs Bicycle Madness on Jefferson Street in Napa.

NEMSA is a relative newcomer in the labor world, was founded by Colcord, a 15-year veteran paramedic who saw the need for an organization more focused on the emergency services industry.