Western Australian ambulance workers entered their third week of protected industrial action on May 14 against their employer St John Ambulance, the principal provider of ambulance transport.
Union members have chalked campaign messages on the windows of their vehicles, highlighting the inadequate pay and conditions paramedics face. “Ambos=Saving Lives, WA Health=Saving $’s” highlights the levels of exploitation frontline workers face to cover for WA Labor’s failure to properly fund the health system.
Others, such as, “13 hour night shifts … no break. Are you safe? We aren’t” and “‘No more money left’... said 3000 managers” point to St John’s disregard for workers’ safety and wellbeing and perceptions that resources are being erroneously directed to excessive bureaucracy while frontline services suffer.
The Ambulance Employees Association of Western Australia (AEAWA), a non-affiliated union and the largest for the profession in WA, and United Workers Union (UWU), which covers ambulance workers across the country, overwhelmingly rejected St John’s recent proposal in April to settle. Enterprise agreement negotiations have gone on for months.
A majority of AEAWA members supported protected industrial actions in their April 14 ballot. They include: an unlimited number of stoppages for 10 minutes; employees putting themselves first in relation to fatigue management and only accepting overtime shifts of their choosing; employees not performing work unless wearing union T-shirts or black T-shirts; and stoppages to write campaign messages on the outside of vehicles.
Members also approved periodic or indefinite bans on a number of aspects of work including: training/tutoring employees on the road; using the St John-controlled Yammer and WhatsApp groups; responding to or acting upon contact from St John’s outside of normal work hours; starting vehicle and equipment checks outside work hours; using the calendar to indicate overtime availability; and accepting emergency calls outside of work hours.
Both unions have ruled out strike action beyond minor stoppages due to a commitment to patients. They stress people should still call 000 and services will not be interrupted.
Beyond a compound raise of 21.6% over the new three year agreement, unionists are demanding strong measures to stop them being forced to do hundreds of hours of overtime.
The AEAWA and UWU emphasise their members’ serious concerns with how spiralling hospital emergency room wait times are negatively affecting the quality of care residents receive, and the availability of ambulance response services.
An AEAWA spokesperson described the “ramping” crisis on April 29, where paramedics are forced to spend hours providing treatment to patients in ambulances, outside hospitals, while waiting for a bed to become available. It means that ambulances are not being used to transport patients.
“In 2017, ambulances were ramped for an average of 819 hours per month. By 2025, that figure has surged to over 5100 hours each month — a staggering increase. To put it in perspective, former Health Minister Roger Cook labelled it a ‘crisis’ back in 2015, when ramping was just one-fifth of what it is today.”
WA Premier Roger Cook has offered glib praise for paramedics, but said little about the dispute besides urging St John’s and the two unions to resolve differences so the health sector is not impacted. However, the critical shortage of ambulance workers and the ramping crisis, caused by a shortage of emergency room beds, are problems that only the government can resolve.
St John’s Ambulance WA, a registered charity, received the greatest slice of its funding which contributed to its $2.8 million surplus last year, from user-pay services and first aid training. It also received 44.8% of its funding from government contracts.
AEAWA submitted multiple Freedom of Information requests to examine the Labor contract with St John’s for ambulance services. These requests were denied on the basis that the contracts are “commercial in confidence”.