P-J photo by Jordan W. Patterson

About two dozen Alstar EMS employees held an informational picket Wednesday in front of UPMC Chautauqua, hoping to lobby for a wage increase as contract talks with the Pittsburgh-based medical group remained stagnant.

For two hours during the picket, members of SEIU Local 200United wore purple and carried signs that read “Highest Trained, Lowest Paid,” “Be Fair To Those Who Care” and “Save Those Who Save You.”

Joe Snyder, SEIU Local 200United chairman and executive board member, said Wednesday’s gathering of employees was to shed light on the low wages many emergency medical technicians and paramedics are currently making in addition to “dangerously low” staffing levels at both ends of the county.

“Our goal today is raise public awareness to the staffing shortages that are in Chautauqua County,” Snyder told The Post-Journal. “Since UPMC has taken over they’ve been unwilling to try and negotiate a competitive livable wage. … Our staffing has just been eroded.”

The current three-year contract for Alstar EMS employees expires Dec. 31 of this year.

Alstar management and UPMC Chautauqua have not responded to multiple requests for comment.

Snyder, a paramedic with Alstar since December 2002, said the union met with the company Wednesday morning in an attempt to negotiate a new contract.

“They did make a little move on the wage, but it was not even close that what we are looking for,” Snyder said.