About 350 paramedics surrounded Victorian Health Minister David Davis's Melbourne office on August 12 to protest in support of their year-long campaign for better wages.
Victoria has Australia's most highly trained and lowest paid paramedics. Supporters came from as far away as Gippsland and Shepparton.
“Ambulance Victoria is in serious trouble unless they can become competitive with other states,” said Ambulance Employees Australia organiser Danny Hill.
A survey of paramedics found that 1500 were prepared to leave Ambulance Victoria within the next five years if conditions did not change.
Victoria pays its paramedics up to 30% less than other states. Victorian paramedics are finding it harder to support their families on current wages.
“Workers are simply burning out from fatigue in current conditions,” Hill said. “We're facing a mass exodus unless we achieve pay parity with other states.
“We have one of the highest survival rates for patients treated in Australia. New clinical skills we're trained in, new drugs we can administer, these things are not considered productivity.”
The last pay rise for Victorian paramedics was in 2010, of 2.5%. Since then, the average rate of inflation each year has been 2.5%. The raise does not correspond to increases in ambulance workload.
The current offer is a 2.5% pay rise on the condition paramedics give up sick leave, annual leave and other allowances. This was rejected by Ambulance Victoria.
Statements including “We are the highest trained and lowest paid in Australia” have been written on ambulance windows in protest.
Workers are using their protected industrial action rights to display such messages but have been restricted from writing them during their shifts.
According to the Australian Governments Productivity Commission report in 2013, ambulance services revenue increased by 14% from 2007.
[For more information and to show support, join the “Code Red Ambos” Facebook page. Click here to sign the petition.]