A visit to Northern Hospital turned ugly for Victorian Health Minister David Davis last week when two Whittlesea paramedics hijacked his media event.
Mr Davis called Melbourne radio later to complain that the paramedics “disrupted the emergency department” when they confronted him in the middle of his visit.
Union delegate Ward Young said the minister had referred to him and colleague Matt Arcieri on radio as “money grubbers”.
“Seems we ruffled his feathers,” Mr Young told
Star Weekly, adding that hospital security had asked the pair to leave.
“He walked off and minders closed in around him. Paramedics are seeking equality with the other states and we won’t trade off our conditions.”
On Wednesday last week, the day before his visit to Northern Hospital, Mr Davis and Premier Denis Napthine issued a media statement calling on paramedics to accept the government’s revised pay offer of a one-off $3000 payment, an immediate 6 per cent pay rise and 3 per cent rises in 2015 and 2016 to end the long-running pay row.
But Ambulance Employees Australia state secretary Steve McGhie said paramedics would quit in droves if the state government succeeded in its plan to force ambos to move anywhere in the state for up to a month at a time.
“The government wants the power to uproot paramedics from their home base to send them anywhere in the state for anything from a single shift to a month at a time,” Mr McGhie said.
“The disruption this poses for families and the health and safety issues around extensive travel after long shifts at work make this completely unworkable.”
Mr McGhie said the government had displayed “arrogant contempt and disregard for ambulance paramedics” by referring to an “upgraded pay offer”.
“Paramedics in metropolitan Melbourne have co-operated this way for years because distances are reasonable, but to impose it in rural Victoria is impractical and dangerous,” the union boss said.
“The clear message from our members today is that if this gets up there would be a mass exodus from the service.”
