NSW Paramedics begin high-visibility campaign for more pay

NSW Paramedics have launched a campaign of ‘surprise tactics and actions’ as they seek better pay that reflects their work conditions and skills.

The campaign of high-visibility civil disobedience and work bans began on the morning of Friday, 17th February 2023 with an online stop work meeting, free public CPR lessons in Sydney’s Martin Place and a doorstop interview with Health Services Union (HSU) NSW Secretary Gerard Hayes.

Among the actions paramedics will ramp up is liquid chalking of protest messages on ambulances as well as wearing protest t-shirts over their uniform. Paramedics will ban using higher skills for which they have been trained but are not currently paid as they roll out a range of further tactics over the next five and a half weeks.

NSW paramedics have the lowest pay in Australia despite significantly increasing their skills and productivity over the past decade. They also have the highest injury rate.

The Health Services Union is pushing for a new system of pay that recognises what paramedics currently do, but unshackles paramedics to fully use all skills they have acquired.

“Every newly trained paramedic is degree trained but is prevented from using all their skills and having them recognised,” Hayes said.

“When someone is having a cardiac arrest paramedics already administer medicine and treatment that can reduce the subsequent stay in hospital by a week. This is a massive cost saving to New South Wales taxpayers, but it simply hasn’t been reflected in the pay that paramedics received.

“The truth is paramedics are trained to also do far more than they are currently allowed to perform. If we scrapped archaic work practices and let them use their full range of knowledge and skills, NSW would reap extraordinary benefits. But we need a pay scale that reflects this.”

Examples of work paramedics are currently prevented from doing include:

• administering a broader range of medicines
• preventative health work such as diabetes screening in disadvantaged communities
• treating aged care patients at home rather than transporting them to a hospital
• preliminary mental health interventions to reduce the 30,000 non- or semi-urgent mental health presentations.
   

“NSW paramedics are not paid what they are worth and will increasingly work to rule if their pay does not reflect their skills and productivity. But with a more constructive approach everyone can benefit. We will be making this argument loud and clear every moment and in every corner of the state, from now until the state election.”

Image credit: iStock.com/Daria Nipot