SOUTH-WEST paramedics will shift their focus to improving response times after Ambulance Victoria on Saturday reached an agreement with the state government over a long-running pay dispute.
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Victorian paramedics will get a $3000 sign-on bonus and a 6 per cent pay rise from January 1 after an agreement was signed with Ambulance Victoria and the Ambulance Employees Association.
Resolving the industrial dispute was one of Premier Daniel Andrews’ key election promises and came after a two-year conflict with the previous Coalition government.
Ambulance Employees Australia general secretary Steve McGhie said paramedics were pleased to end industrial action after such a long and hostile period.
“The new government has got results within three weeks and has clearly shown they want to work with paramedics, including those in the south-west region,” he told The Standard.
“All the feedback I’ve had since it was announced is positive from members.
“They’re glad it’s resolved and want to get on with solving some of the issues within the ambulance service, like response times and making it a better service with more flexibility for workers so they can do their job better.
“Demand will grow on emergency services and we need to make sure we can respond to the life-threatening cases with the resources we’ve got.”
Mr McGhie said more than 100 paramedics and almost as many community officers in the south-west had been affected by the arduous negotiations.
“Support of paramedics in the south-west region has been astronomical, so it’s not only families but friends and acquaintances of paramedics that have been involved in this dispute.
“The work done in the past two or three weeks has been phenomenal from the unions and particularly the new Health Minister Jill Hennessy, who has had an incredible workload in the past few weeks to get sorted out.”
As a result of the agreement, the paramedics’ union will suspend all industrial action and has agreed that members will undertake a regular performance review.
The deal also involves a 3 per cent pay increase from July 2015 and July 2016, as well as a commitment to identify system failures, inefficiencies and solutions.
Mr Andrews said his government had accomplished in two weeks what the Liberals failed to do in two years.
