The Australian Paramedics Association NSW says the latest state budget funding has failed to support frontline workers, with no new pay offer for the current financial year.
Paramedic and union president Brett Simpson, who has worked across St George and Sutherland Shire for much of his career, (now based out of area), says it's a 'betrayal' of paramedics.
"The Government keeps saying that they can't offer us a fair wage because of a 'budget blackhole'. During the pandemic, when our patients needed us, we didn't throw our hands in the air and say 'it's all too hard'. We put on our uniform and went to work, even though we knew it put our lives at risk," he said.
The union has vowed to continue their fight for fair pay. In response, they have announced renewed industrial action. From Thursday, September 21 to Monday, September 25, they will be recommencing KPI and Billing Bans, Special Events Bans, and Staff Movements Bans.
Ambulance workers outside of Sydney will benefit from the state's promise to spend more than $430 million to employ additional 500 paramedics in regional areas.
"What good is bribing healthcare students with scholarships when you're then locking them into five years of poverty with the lowest paramedic wages in the country," Mr Simpson said.
"The recent staffing announcements are like putting a band-aid on a bullet hole, as healthcare workers abandon NSW in droves. How helpful are 500 extra rural and regional staff if we can't keep the ones we already have?
"In the past decade, paramedics have taken on dozens of new clinical skills and sacrificed themselves through gruelling natural disasters and health emergencies, all while providing better care for our patients and easing the strain on the healthcare system."
Public sector workers including ambulance will benefit from a $3.6 billion 'essential services fund' designed to pay for wage rises, replacing the former Perrottet government's wage cap of 2.5 per cent.
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