Victorian paramedics have scribbled slogans on ambulances and stopped collecting patient billing details as their protracted pay dispute ramps up.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Victorian Ambulance Union kicked off industrial action on Monday morning after being unable to broker a new enterprise agreement.
The union served a log of claims on Ambulance Victoria on February 1 2023, with improved sick leave, overtime entitlements and travel allowances among its requests.
Union secretary Danny Hill said the parties remained poles apart on many key conditions after 77 meetings, leaving members no choice but to take action.
"Our pay claims started at six per cent but it's about the overall package," he told AAP.
"Government has a wages policy of three per cent. We expect to meet somewhere reasonably in the middle.
"Selling a flat three per cent to the workforce who have just been through the COVID pandemic and are also dealing with cost-of-living issues, it's not an easy sell."
Industrial action includes members writing slogans on ambulances in liquid chalk, not collecting billing details and refusing to carry out tasks for hospitals.
"None of the actions will place anyone in danger," Mr Hill insisted.
"They're purely around frustrating processes, creating administrative burdens and not hitting revenue."
Ambulances and paramedic vehicles were seen driving through the city sporting messages such as "ambos deserve a life too" and "all work and no life makes ambos ... go crazy".
Mr Hill said he would welcome the state government getting more involved in negotiations between the union and Ambulance Victoria.
Senior government minister Gabrielle Williams, who previously held the ambulance services portfolio, told reporters on Monday that "progress is being made".
Opposition ambulance services spokeswoman Georgie Crozier said there would be more money for paramedics if the government hadn't paid over the odds for "fat-cat" executives.
"They keep talking about these people being the frontline heroes," she told reporters on Monday.
"Well, they're actually not following through with those words."
On top of paramedics, the Victorian government and its agencies remain locked in long-running pay battles with police, firefighters, public servants and V/Line staff.
V/Line workers are set to strike on Friday and on March 28, with no trains running until the early afternoon on either day.
"The union's decision to strike for an eighth time is incredibly disappointing and will again disrupt tens of thousands of passengers wanting to travel for major events and before the Easter period," V/Line chief executive Matt Carrick said.
Police officers called off industrial action late last year after the force committed to addressing shift lengths and a 1.75 per cent "good will" pay rise backdated from December 1.
Australian Associated Press
