Local paramedics have escalated industrial action today, refusing to respond to non-emergency patient transfer jobs for 24 hours.
Over the weekend, members of the Australian Paramedics Association (APA) kicked off a week-long campaign refusing to enter billing information, report KPI’s and refuse to attend special events which would place their home station below minimum staffing levels.
For the next day, APA members will refuse to respond to non-emergency patient transfer jobs that could be otherwise taken by Patient Transport Officers or private providers
APA NSW President Chris Kastelan said they have no other choice.
“Paramedics have no choice other than to escalate their industrial action in the face of a sorely disappointing provisional 4% pay offer from the NSW Government.”
“Paramedics made sure our communities were safe in the thick of an unprecedented pandemic, yet in real terms we’re being paid less than we were in 2017.
“How can we stay silent when the number the Minns Government is floating doesn’t come even close to maintaining our real wages, let alone accounting for the massive increase in work Paramedics have faced since COVID.
“We’re now hemorrhaging great Paramedics to other states. If QLD is offering $20k bonuses for new Paramedics, but we can’t even get a real pay rise, how can this government think it will retain the health workers it desperately needs?”
The union says that since COVID, Paramedics saw their real wages plummet while the cost of living skyrocketed. Last year saw the highest attrition numbers of NSW Paramedic numbers in over a decade. With only a week until the current Award lapses on June 30, the Union says they still have not received a formal offer from NSW Health for a wage increase.
“The system is in crisis, everything is going backwards.”