We met with the government again today along with your AESB President and Vice President.

Whilst there’s a situation out there on the job that’s more than challenging, we still want to deal with your agreement and get to the point where the government makes serious change on the issues that will actually bring relief to ambulance workers.

Today’s discussions were positive, but we still don’t have an offer that is something we believe you’ll accept. The conversation was limited to the tin tacks issues we’ve mentioned before – that is: wages, management of meal breaks, mentoring/clinical coach allowance, training days, ramping, and end-of-shift dispatch. We’ll get more clarity on where the government are at with these when we receive further revisions from them.

We need to keep the pressure on for the remainder of the holiday season and highlight to the community the unbearable pressure the government puts you under day after day.

Action is the best way to do that.

Here are some suggested slogans for your trucks and windows:

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• Who’s answering your 000 this New Year’s?

• Fix ramping now!

• The government won’t give us a meal break

• Under resourced, under paid and under pressure

• New year, same old problems

• … Or any other resource crisis or “fix health” themed drawings

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We also have some t-shirts for you and we’re giving them out as quickly as we can. We’ll be out at workplaces and on the ramp over the New Year period visiting you, too. If you’ve got a photo of you in your t-shirt or a shot of your vehicle to share, email it to photos@hacsu.org.au

We’ll need to organise some HACSU member meetings in the next few weeks to discuss any offer and the next steps, so keep an eye out for information about those.

Your AESB Executive will continue to consider escalating industrial action if the government keep ignoring the issues.

For further information, please contact us on 1300 880 032 or via email at assist@hacsu.org.au