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  • 'Not an easy sell': paramedics to ramp up pay dispute

    Author: AAP

Victorian paramedics will scribble slogans on ambulances and not collect billing details from patients as their protracted pay dispute ramps up.

The Victorian Ambulance Union will kick off industrial action from Monday morning after being unable to broker a new enterprise agreement.

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The union served a log of claims on Ambulance Victoria on February 1 last year, 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 will include members writing slogans promoting work-life balance 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."

Mr Hill said he would welcome the state government getting more involved in negotiations between the union and Ambulance Victoria.

Premier Jacinta Allan said she expected negotiations between the parties to be resolved as quickly as possible.

"We need to obviously see these negotiations come to a conclusion," she told reporters on Sunday.

On top of paramedics, the Victorian government and its agencies remain locked in long-running pay battles with police, firefighters, regional train staff and public servants.

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.

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