- Published:
- Monday 2 March 2020
The Andrews Labor Government has reached an in-principle agreement with the Victorian Ambulance Union and United Workers Union to deliver a fair wage deal for our hardworking, dedicated and skilled paramedics.
Minister for Ambulance Services Jenny Mikakos today announced the enterprise bargaining agreement with paramedics had been settled with a heads-of-agreement signed, providing better pay and conditions and additional paramedics to better care for all Victorians.
The new deal gives paramedics a two per cent per annum wage increase over four years, in line with the Labor Government’s wages policy, as well as additional incentives that support ongoing professional development – making our paramedics amongst the best paid in the country.
Other key outcomes include:
- Additional career progression that delivers a more skilled workforce through improved training and mentoring
- New unsociable shift payment that recognises the disruptive and sometimes dangerous work our paramedics do every week
- Better paramedic coverage in regional and rural Victoria
- Promoting gender equality with an extra four weeks of paid parental leave for primary caregivers taking that total paid leave to 14 weeks and increasing partner leave to two weeks
- Reimbursement for childcare expenses as a result of unplanned overtime and the introduction of 38 hours pre-natal leave
- Paid Defence Force Leave for staff who also help during national emergencies such as the recent bushfires.
Upon coming to office, the Government resolved the paramedic pay dispute and referred paramedic pay rates to the Fair Work Commission, ending the war on paramedics.
The Government is dedicated to working with our paramedics, not against them. This paramedics EBA was resolved without protected industrial action – the first time since the mid 1990’s.
The Government has invested a record $1 billion to deliver more paramedics, more vehicles and more stations. This includes a $299 million boost in the Victorian Budget 2019/20.
The latest data shows Victoria’s ambulances transported a massive 78,820 code 1 emergency patients in the three months to the end of December – 4,513 more than a year earlier.
Quotes attributable to Minister for Ambulance Services Jenny Mikakos
“We’re so proud of our inspirational paramedics and the demanding work they do every day. That’s why we’re giving them the pay and conditions they deserve, so they can continue doing what they do best – saving Victorian lives.”
“Ambulance response times were the worst on the Australian mainland, but we fixed that by investing more than any government in Victoria’s history, putting more paramedics on the road and building new facilities.”