Ambulance Officers To Rally As St John Withdrawal Of Labour Begins

WHAT:

Around 2,500 ambulance
officers who work for Hato Hone St John will commence a
withdrawal of labour tomorrow, and rallies will be held in
several locations around the
country.

WHEN:

Tuesday
20th August, 2024

• Withdrawal of labour
  active for the first 4 hours of all shifts starting between
  04:00 on 20th August until 04:00 on 21st
  August
• Rallies – times vary (details
  below)

Saturday 24th August,
2024

• Withdrawal of labour active for the
  first 4 hours of all shifts starting between 04:00 on 24th
  August until 04:00 on 25th August
• Further events
  TBC

WHERE:

• AUCKLAND
  – 12.00pm at Mt Wellington, St John station (Corner of
  Harrison Road and Ellerslie Panmure Highway, Mount
  Wellington, Auckland)
• CHRISTCHURCH
  – 08:00am to meet outside St John Hub on Winchcombe Street
  (Borders South City Mall, 9 Winchcombe Street, Christchurch
  Central City, Christchurch) and then march to Justice
  Precinct, 20 Lichfield Street,
  Christchurch
• INVERCARGILL – 08:00am
  – 10:00am Corner Tay St and Elles Road,
  Invercargill
• PALMERTSON NORTH –
  15:00pm – 18:00pm at the Ruahine / Tremaine intersection
  (Roslyn, Palmerston
  North)

WHY:

Ambulance
officers have been negotiating over pay and conditions with
the employer, St John, since the expiry of their Collective
Agreement in December 2023. The unions – FIRST Union and
NZAA – have been repeatedly told by St John that no funds
are available for pay negotiations, despite the
Government’s election commitment to increase funding to
the partially charity-funded service.

The unions
rejected an unexpected 11th hour settlement proposal by St
John late last week and are querying why funding has
suddenly been made available in the final moments before
strike action, and contingent on the withdrawal of the
planned strike action.

Union representatives say the
proposed settlement dealt with none of the unions’
combined claims beyond pay increases and still represented a
real-terms pay cut for ambulance officers, and it was
immediately rejected by the unions’ bargaining teams.
Strike action is set to continue tomorrow (20th August) and
Saturday (24th August), with a ‘Life Preserving Service
Agreement’ negotiated and in place with St John to ensure
minimum ambulance coverage for serious medical issues during
strike actions.

“We’re calling for the Government to
live up to their promises and fully fund the ambulance
service not just to end these drawn-out pay talks, but for
the future of our emergency services in New Zealand,” said
Faye McCann.

“Without solving the issue of funding
now, we will be back in the same position next year and the
year after that before the Government finally acknowledges
that we can’t run an effective ambulance service when
we’re relying on charity donations and
austerity.”

“This is the first time the combined
unions have voted for strike action and the first withdrawal
of labour ever by ambulance officers in Aotearoa – such is
the depth of feeling.”

Mark Quin, NZAA Division
Chairman, said ambulance officers were underpaid and
underappreciated, and the service was struggling to recruit
and retain skilled staff at St John with the service
over-stretched and unable to meet patient expectations on
current funding levels.

“The respective roles as
ambulance officers and communication officers have continued
to become increasingly complex and demanding, along with
increased accountability and responsibilities. St John is
failing its staff in recognising this in the respective
remuneration for these roles and why staff feel undervalued,
with the last offer not even meeting inflationary
pressures,” said Mr Quin.

“Staff feel they have been
left with no option by Hato Hone St John than to take this
action, because both St John as the employer and Health NZ
as the funder are refusing to listen to staff and believe
their staff should work for less because St John is a
charity.”

“It’s time that both HHSJ and Health NZ
recognise the importance and value of the ambulance service
in the wider health spectrum and the need to move away from
charity organisation as the provider of ambulance services
if HHSJ cant move with the times and be fiscally
responsible.”

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