Australian Paramedics Association (NSW) Paramedics will renew their industrial action starting tomorrow, in protest over an insultingly low pay offer from the Minns Government and a lack of action on critical changes to fix NSW's emergency healthcare crisis.
Starting tomorrow and continuing throughout the week, APA (NSW) Paramedics will be renewing their industrial action to call attention to the insultingly low 4% pay rise offered to them by the Minns Government.
From Wednesday 26 July to Wednesday 2 August, Paramedics will refuse to enter patient billing information, refuse to report KPIs, and refuse to attend special events which would place their home station below minimum staffing levels. They will take an additional 24-hour action from Monday 31 July to Tuesday 1 August, by refusing to respond to non-emergency patient transfer jobs that could otherwise be taken by Patient Transport Officers or private providers.
"Paramedics are sick and tired of being told how critical we are to the community, only to be left behind when it comes to paying us a fair wage," says APA (NSW) Secretary Alan O'Riordan.
"After winning an election on the back of promises to properly pay essential workers, we can't believe the Minns Government thinks we're only worth that much."
"Other states are poaching our Paramedics away with much higher wages – some even with $20k sign-on bonuses on top – so it's no wonder we're seeing a mass exodus of great clinicians."
"When we take this action, we're really doing the Government a favour by forcing them to fix their own broken healthcare system."
The union is taking this action after seeing little movement on much-needed changes to fix the emergency healthcare system, outlined in two recent NSW Government inquiries. The 2022 Ramping Inquiry and the 2022 Rural and Regional Health Inquiry – both called for by Labor in opposition – recommended funding more regional specialist Paramedics, ensuring better availability of primary healthcare services, and expanded Patient Transport services.
"We're still seeing Paramedics sitting with patients in hospital bed block for hours and hours on end," continued APA (NSW) Secretary Alan O'Riordan.
"Ambulance response times state-wide are worse than they were in 2010 – how can this be considered acceptable."
"More specialist Paramedics, 24/7 Patient Transport Officers, and genuinely accessible primary healthcare are all solutions that would actually cut to the heart of these problems, and they've already been greenlit by Parliament's own committees."
"How many Paramedics need to burn out, how many patients need to suffer, before the Government listens to the workers on the frontlines and actually implement these changes."
"We won't stop taking action while the Government ignores solutions to these problems. Doing what's best for Paramedics and the NSW community is at the core of our union."
"It's time for Mr Minns to actually listen to Paramedics and join us in helping the people of NSW."
