Thousands of ambulance officers to strike as sector in ‘worst state’ ever seen

By RNZ

More than 2500 ambulance officers have voted to go on strike later this month in what they describe as a last resort.

The nationwide withdrawal of labour will involve members from First Union and the Ambulance Association (NZAA) on August 20 and 24.

The unions say the strike action comes after St John failed to offer a pay rise, and the Government’s inability to confirm any funding increase to the service.

First Union’s national ambulance coordinator Faye McCan said officers had not initially wanted to withdraw their labour, but the lack of progress in negotiations had left them between a rock and a hard place.

NZAA Division chairman Mark Quin said the decision had been made with reluctance but ambulance officers were “frustrated, demoralised and feeling undervalued by Hato Hone St John”.

They were “sick of the continued standard line of being committed to reaching a settlement through ongoing negotiations” which in his opinion, was not true.

St John medic and union member Tom Bannan, who has been in the service for 35 years, said it was in the “worst state” he had ever seen.

“We’re getting a lot of support from the public, especially with the chalked ambulances. People are tooting in support, younger people are reading the messages when we pull up, and the community is getting involved.

“People just can’t believe that a modern-day ambulance service is in this state. There’s massive support for a fully-funded ambulance sector.

“A withdrawal of labour is a worst-case scenario for us. We don’t want to let the public down and have been trying not to with our actions,” he said.

“But we now need to send a strong message that the current situation is untenable and unsustainable.”

The unions will now negotiate with St John over the signing of a life-preserving services agreement.