RELATED: Ambo union ‘misrepresents’ situation
LETTER TO THE EDITOR:
I WANT to put people straight on the plight of Victorian paramedics.
Firstly, we do not get $110,000 per year gross salary far from it.
A qualified paramedic with six years experience gets $71,000 a year which is a rolled-in rate that covers shift work and weekends.
The chief executive officer of Ambulance Victoria has openly stated to university students doing the paramedics degree that the life expectancy in the job on average is seven years.
This is because of burnout, particularly in busy areas, but the government stands to make savings in superannuation, and so on, from this.
There are a number of risks paramedics face doing this challenging job such as post traumatic stress disorder, increased risk of infection and injuries, along with the negative health implications of being up all night.
Our skills and workload and responsibilities have increased over the years, however, the remuneration has not.
We are well behind the pay of paramedics in other states.
The copious amounts of taxpayers’ money this government is wasting fighting its paramedic workforce and deceitfully advertising to the public about how generous their pay offer is, is dishonest.
They have only recently acceded to our request after years of representation to allowing an independent ‘work value case’ to be done.
This will most likely take another 12 months.
Victorian paramedics’ EBA negotiation process has been deliberately stonewalled and dragged out by this current government for more than two years, and the only reason they are now making some movement towards possibly resolving this issue is because it is an election year and they are concerned about their re-election prospects.
Victorian paramedics want pay parity with their counterparts in other states, for example the ACT and South Australia in particular, but do not in the process want their working conditions eroded, particularly by unsafe practices.
I believe the Victorian government breaks its own occupational health and safety laws when it comes to the way it deals with and treats its paramedic workforce, however WorkSafe would no sooner pursue that than fly to the moon.
I believe for this Victorian government this dispute is not only about penny-pinching against us paramedics, whose budget is such a small part of their overall budget, but it is also as much about their bullying attempts to break a small but determined union.
Our union, the Ambulance Employees Australia of Victoria, is now part of the larger LHMU.
I do not believe in union bullying or corruption, or the same from government.
I do believe in fair union representation which this government is trying to take away from us in our workplace.
I also believe that by far the majority of Victorians support their paramedics in the desire that we be paid fairly in line with other states, and that we are entitled to safe work practices.
Make no mistake, it is this current Victorian government that are the greedy, cunning ones, not us, and furthermore their actions and deceit has the flow-on effect of putting all Victorians at increased risk.
