Paramedics dispute lingers

PARAMEDICS are hoping for a resolution to their long running dispute with the Victorian Government over pay and conditions.

Raising awareness: Michelle Howard, Phil Nestor, Jessie Poland, Karen Poland, Ashley Poland, Stephen Hill, Wendy Parris and David Poland appeared at the opening of the Leongatha Hospital, representing paramedics’ concerns. Mr Hill and Ms Parris travelled to the event from Bairnsdale.

The issue went before the Fair Work Commission last week.
Last November, the government offered paramedics a 12 per cent pay increase over three years.
Gordon Bowman, Leongatha ambulance officer and president of the Ambulance Employees Association of Victoria, said the pay terms had “a whole lot of strings attached”.
Ambulance employees rejected the offer.
However, Health Minister David Davis is currently publicising the offer in full-page advertisements in newspapers such as The Star, as well as major daily publications.
“We believe the full-page ads have probably cost half a million dollars,” Mirboo North paramedic Don Gillies said.
He believes the State Government intends the advertisements “to persuade public opinion against paramedics.”
The proffered pay rise would begin in the second half of 2014.
“We’ve been negotiating this claim for close to 18 months and they’re saying you’ve got to wait another seven months for it,” Mr Bowman said.
“The pay offer they’re portraying runs until 2017. We haven’t had a pay rise since 2011.”
That means the 12 per cent pay rise stretches over six years rather than the advertised three years.
“It’s only two per cent per year,” Mr Bowman said.
“We’re not necessarily asking for more but we’re asking them to pay it straight away.”
The association is also pushing for improved working conditions it says would benefit paramedics, ambulance clerks and ambulance mechanics as well as the public, who are harmed by long waits for ambulances.
One issue is meal breaks for paramedics.
“Paramedics are finding it increasingly difficult to get a meal break,” Mr Bowman said.
“They keep you working.”
Paramedics work a 10 or 12 hour day shift and a 12 or 14 hour night shift, and usually keep working after their shift has finished.
Problems around meal breaks can be reduced if Ambulance Victoria puts on extra resources, Mr Bowman says, such as more ambulance officers.
Mr Bowman also says the offered conditions are also bad for families, offering reduced permanence and stability.
“They can move you anywhere around the state,” he said.
Under the terms of the offer, paramedics can be required to work out of another station and are not compensated for the first hour of travel from their home.
Paramedics and others are also concerned about the government’s plan to use community ambulance officers more.
Community officers play a valuable role in health care, especially in rural areas.
They receive 40 hours of first-aid training.
Mr Bowman fears community officers will be required to work in situations that require a paramedic, who has three years’ university training and at least one year of work experience.

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Posted by Jacob De Kunder on Jan 14 2014. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry