comment, opinion

THE hard-line ambulance union is misrepresenting the generous offer made by Ambulance Victoria and the government of a $3000 sign-on bonus, an upfront wage increase of six per cent, followed by two further increases of three per cent (a total increase of 12 per cent). It has claimed falsely high attrition levels when in fact the latest data shows the attrition rate in the ambulance service is falling, down from 5.2 per cent in 2010-11 to 4.3 per cent in 2012-13 and even further to 3.9 per cent to the end of March last year. They have also disingenuously claimed initiatives to guarantee full coverage across the community as something negative. In fact with 539 more paramedics and a fair system that would first seek paramedics to voluntarily fill occasional shifts and only when no volunteers were available require paramedics to travel up to one hour to fill shifts for up to one month per year. Not too bad when your package exceeds $100,000 and you work 148 days per year – oh, and you have 10 weeks leave annually and the best paramedic super in Australia. What's your opinion? Do you have some thoughts on this issue? Click here to send a letter to the editor. Preference is given to letters of no more than 350 words.

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