MERIDEN, CT — Emergency medical workers at Hunters Ambulance say they are edging toward a strike after management pulled every raise for 2026 from its contract offer. The company says it remains committed to reaching a fair agreement.
Hunters Ambulance, owned and operated by Hartford HealthCare, provides emergency medical response around the greater Meriden area. Its EMTs and paramedics belong to Local 294 of the International Association of EMTs and Paramedics, which has been bargaining with management since November 2025, Timothy Cormier, the local's vice president and the chair of its negotiating committee, told FOX61.
Raises Withdrawn Oct. 10
Management withdrew all wage offers for 2026 from its proposal on Oct. 10, IAEP National Director Philip Petit said in an Oct. 21 statement from the union. The union says the company's offer has not improved since June and gets worse each time the workers turn it down.
Cormier told FOX61 the union has rejected several offers and tried to meet with Hartford HealthCare in September. "We were hoping that they would come back because we rejected their offer with a new offer for us, and they did not," he said.
Workers Point to Equipment and Insurance Costs
Eric Heidtman, the local's president, told FOX61 that crews need better tools to do the job. "Our equipment is starting to age out. Our ambulances are falling apart," he said. He added that over the past month some crews have reported for work with no ambulance available, and that the radios fail too: "They have to call us on our cell phones sometime to make sure we respond to the calls."
Some employees earn $23 an hour, Heidtman said, and health insurance takes a large share of that. "You have them paying up to $800 almost $900 a month for their insurance when other people that are making less than them are paying half that," he said.