News

As members are aware, the Victorian Ambulance Union (VAU) did not endorse the proposed Health Select and Employees Enterprise Agreement 2025 (Agreement) that went out to vote two weeks ago.
The draft Agreement has been voted up, with a 63.64% to 36.36% split in ballot opinion from a total of 197 employees voting. This is a concerning result after a relatively short bargaining period and an Agreement that struggles in parts to match the minimum standards set by the Ambulance and Patient Transport Industry Award 2020 (Award), let alone remain competitive in the sector.

With this Agreement, Health Select employees will remain some of the lowest paid in the non-emergency patient transport (NEPT) industry, depending on the classification and years of service.

The VAU will continue to advocate for the best conditions for our members, regardless of the outcome of the vote. The next step is for Health Select to apply for approval of the proposed Agreement, which they have now done. Bargaining representatives can now lodge a declaration indicating whether they support approval of the Agreement or not.

The VAU plans to declare that we do not support the approval of the Agreement, and notify the Fair Work Commission that we do not believe it will pass the better-off-overall test (BOOT) due to:

• shift allowances being worse off for shifts finishing between 6:00pm and 12:00pm, and even worse for shifts under 10 hours;
• operational employees only receiving an unpaid meal break of 30 minutes for shifts not counting as time worked, as opposed to the Award’s 20-minute paid breaks, counting as time worked;
• a lower overtime meal allowance than that in the Award;
• the base rates in the Agreement being only marginally higher than the Award, including by only 4 cents per week for year 3 PTOs.

We may have further statements to the Commission based on the declarations made by Health Select. We will keep our members updated in this process and may require their assistance in doing so. 

Importantly, these are only the conditions that are even worse than the Award and would fail the BOOT. The list of conditions that are worse than your fellow workers at NPT, RFDS, St John and other NEPT employers would take pages to outline. We believe Health Select workers deserve better.

In solidarity.