DOORSTOP: Paramedic registration boycott

Paramedics will brief media on the prospect of a boycott of their professional registration as simmering frustration over substandard pay spills over.

Who: HSU NSW Secretary, Gerard Hayes and serving NSW paramedics.
When: 1045am today
Where: Martin Place, between George and Pitt Street
Contact: Nick Lucchinelli 0422 229 033

Hundreds of paramedics have already resigned in the last six months yet the Government won’t commit to improve wages, which remain the nation’s lowest.

More than 1500 paramedics have now signed an online pledge to boycott professional registration which is due for renewal by December 1. This already amounts to a significant proportion of the serving paramedic workforce who will be prevented from working. It is likely rise in the coming weeks.

The skills and value of paramedics has skyrocketed over the past decade as they have taken on increasingly clinical and public health functions. Paramedics now perform diagnostic procedures and administer medicines that prevent someone suffering a heart attack from deteriorating. This delivers a superior patient outcome and saves the taxpayer tens of thousands of dollars in hospital costs.

However the pay of NSW paramedics does not reflect this uplift in skills and they have fallen well behind similar health professionals in NSW due to the 12 year long wage cap that prevented meaningful wage bargaining.

Further information: Nick Lucchinelli 0422 229 032