In September 2024, after 20 months of negotiations and seven months of industrial action, the Victorian Ambulance Union reached an in-principal agreement with Ambulance Victoria and the State Government on a new pay deal that will make Victorian paramedics amongst the highest paid in Australia.
The deal includes:
– Wage increases ranging from 16.98 per cent to 33 per cent over four years including: 16.98 per cent (compounded) for most positions; Higher uplifts, over 20 per cent (compounded) for experienced paramedics; Additional $12,500 relativity uplift for MICA paramedics delivering overall increases of up to 33 per cent.
– New $5 per hour availability allowance for rural Ambulance Community Officers
– Increases to Clinical Instructor Allowances
– Increases to unsociable shift allowances
– Increases to on-call allowances
– Improvements to end-of-shift management
– Many other improvements to conditions of employment including better access to single days off, improved meal break provisions, improvements to health and safety, the right to disconnect, better allocation to rural branches, assisted reproductive treatment leave, organ and bone marrow donation leave.
From December 2, 2024, the draft agreement was circulated to the AV workforce to be voted on. More than 78 per cent of the Ambulance Victoria workforce took part in the vote with 97.3 per cent of the workforce in favour of the new deal.
The finalised agreement will now be submitted to Fair Work to be ratified. Once in effect, members will be back paid to October 2024.
“We thought that the vote would be successful, but 97.3 per cent of the workforce in favour is far higher than anything we could have hoped for,” Danny Hill, secretary of the Victorian Ambulance Union, said.
“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.
“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”.
Ambulance Victoria Interim chief executive officer Andrew Crisp AM APM said a clear majority of Ambulance Victoria paramedics and their colleagues had voted in favour of the new enterprise agreement aimed at improving their experience at work while delivering timely high-quality care to the Victorian community.
“This new four-year 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.
“The Agreement will deliver tangible improvements for our people – from their experience at work and how they are supported, to their salary and career, work-life balance and mobility, and improved equity in access to conditions and opportunities.
“Importantly, the Agreement recognises the need to deliver a better end-of-shift experience, so more paramedics can finish work on time.
“I thank our people for their support, feedback and patience as we have worked through this process. I’d also like to recognise the bargaining parties – including the Victorian Ambulance Union (VAU) and the United Workers’ Union (UWU) – for their collaborative and constructive approach to these negotiations.”
