-> Personally, I think it is because it is so easy to become an EMT, that the
-> labor pool is so much bigger than the demand that it is a buyers
-> (employer's) market. If it took longer, and the requirements were more
-> stringent, and maybe cost more, there would be fewer EMTs and salaries 
could
-> be higher.
In Canada it takes about 1500+ hours to get your basic certification. The 
pay's
a lot better than in the States (at least for the municipal services, I don't
know about the transfer services), but we still have a glut of people. We 
lso
have the problem that EMS isn't represented as well politically compared to
the other emergency services.
Nothing can change the minds of the people who own the private services in 
he
States, after all it's a free market system. The general public would never 
get
upset over the conditions faced by EMS workers since they've got more 
important
things to worry about. Your best bet is to work on improving EMS' relations
with their employers in cities where it's a municipal service. Without
competition they can afford to pay decent salaries, and you might actually be
able to convince them to do it (as a public body the politicians are 
influenced
a little less by the bottom line and a little more by altruism, though not by
much).
I don't know what kind of hiring practices are used where you work, but here
it's based on a rigourous testing program that's done every time there's a 
ob
open. Only the best get hired, so it makes up for the fact that there's so 
many
people applying for each spot. They could take advantage of the number of
applicants and use that to bid down the expected wages, but they know that
they'd be getting the most desperate people, not the best.
Nothing's going to change in the system until EMS gains the same kind of
respect enjoyed by fire and police, and that will only come through improved
awareness and relations with the politicians who control the system.
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