A CLEAR majority of Ambulance Victoria paramedics have voted in favour of a new pay deal said to make Victorian paramedics among the highest paid in Australia. Almost 80 per cent of eligible employees voted in the ballot which closed on Monday, December 16, with 97.3 per cent voting in favour of the deal. After more than 20 months of negotiations and seven months of industrial action, the Victorian Ambulance Union (VAU) reached an in-principal agreement with Ambulance Victoria and the State Government in September on a new pay deal which will see wage increases from 17 per cent to 33 per cent over the next four years. Secretary of the VAU, Danny Hill, said the overwhelmingly positive vote was far higher than anything the union could have hoped for. “There is always more to do in ambulance, including ramping, response times, workload and staff morale… this outcome will allow us to focus our full attention on working through those matters with AV and government,” he said. “It’s taken 20 months of bargaining and industrial action to get to this point; it’s an exhausting process, but the strong endorsement from the workforce makes it all worth it.” Other aspects of the new deal include improvements to access to single days off, conditions of employment and better allocation to rural branches. It also includes new rules to reduce forced overtime for non-urgent cases. Ambulance Victoria interim chief executive officer, Andrew Crisp, said the agreement would deliver tangible improvements for its Victorian emergency service workers. “Importantly, the agreement recognises the need to deliver a better end-of-shift experience, so more paramedics can finish work on time,” he said. “The agreement delivers a significant package of entitlements and conditions which will allow Ambulance Victoria to cement its position as one of the world’s leading ambulance services. "Ambulance Victoria looks forward to continuing to work closely with our people and the VAU and United Workers Union to implement the new enterprise agreement.” The agreement will now be submitted to Fair Work Commission to be finalised.
