MEDIA RELEASE | Wednesday 23 November, 2016

Ambulance managers demand fair pay for crucial emergency work

Ambulance Victoria managers and professionals have voted to take protected industrial action after months of enterprise negotiations failed to secure a fair deal for those responsible for overseeing and coordinating emergency responses.

Ambulance Managers and Professionals Association Director, Sharelle Herrington said ambulance managers were disappointed that Ambulance Victoria had failed to deliver an adequate deal – pushing for an agreement that would see their wages fall tens of thousands of dollars below the pay rate for Paramedics.   Ambulance Victoria’s current proposal would mean that Clinical Managers would be earning up to $27,754 less than the Clinical Support Officer they are responsible for.

“Ambulance managers play a vital role in delivering and coordinating essential emergency services in a high-pressure environment – they do a fantastic job and deserve to be paid appropriately,” said Ms Herrington.

“Already we are seeing paramedics reluctant to step into management roles because they’d be forced to take a significant pay cut. No paramedic is going to choose to move into these high-pressure positions, taking on the responsibility for managing ambulance operations in return for less money.

“These senior managers are responsible for co-ordinating Ambulance Victoria’s response to daily incidents as well as major events such as terror attacks and bushfires – they are highly qualified professionals and deserve to be paid as such.

“Ambulance Victoria must urgently address the considerable pay gap between senior paramedic managers and the paramedics they manage.  It is vital that those who are responsible for delivering high quality and reliable emergency response to our community are paid adequately – and are paid in line with those they manage.

“Ambulance Victoria has offered an unacceptably low pay rise to paramedic Managers that threatens to make it even more difficult to recruit people to these crucial roles and stymies career progression.  That leaves the Victorian community exposed in times of emergency.

“The Andrews Government has made mileage out of improved ambulance response times.  These are only possible because of reforms introduced by senior managers and professionals at Ambulance Victoria. These managers and professionals are the driving force behind implementing much needed reform at Ambulance Victoria.

“Ambulance managers will undertake industrial action which could include bans on overtime and ban handing over response time data to the government and the Department of Health and Human Services – in order to get a fairer deal and greater respect for the vital role they play,” said Ms Herrington.