News
28th July, 2022
St. John Ambulance Enterprise Agreement Bargaining Update – July/August
The Victorian Ambulance Union Incorporated (VAU) met with St John on Wednesday, 6 July 2022 to continue enterprise bargaining. In this meeting there was further discussion around St John supplying notes from a previous meeting and their draft proposed agreement document to enable the VAU to provide feedback.
The most important issue discussed was wages. St John explained their budgeting constraints particularly around the COVID-19 pandemic. The VAU reminded St John that their ATAs are among the worst paid in the industry and that their PTOs are receiving a wage which is barely above the Award. The VAU also pointed out that St John appear to not be paying their ATAs the Continuing Education Program (CEP) allowances. All other companies pay their ATAs an amount which is greater than the Award base-rate as the CEP allowances are included in the base rate.
St John position on Wages
St John’s position is a 4.6% wage increase from July this year for all operational employees, consistent with the Award increase. They also propose to either pay, in an agreement, the Award Increase for that year or the Wage Price Index. They did not provide clarity on which one they prefer.
VAU position
St John’s position on wages will mean that employees will continue to be among the worst paid in the industry. We also do not see St John’s position on wages as a sustainable position in bargaining as members have made it clear that increasing their wages is the number one priority.
Next Steps
The VAU are strongly advocating to improve conditions for St John employees. However, we need your support to secure a desperately needed wage increase. If you don’t want to be amongst the lowest paid in the industry we need all VAU St John members to nominate the VAU as your bargaining representative. If you don’t nominate us, we can’t fight for you.