WHAT: Ambulance Fleet Maintenance Officers walk off the job in regional Victorian centres.
WHEN: 10am, Monday, April 8
WHERE: Ambulance stations in Ballarat, Bendigo, Geelong, Hamilton, Horsham, Morwell, Shepparton and Wangaratta. (EDS, the major ambulance station in town if more than one station).
WHAT: Fleet Maintenance Officers will be available for pic opportunities outside local ambulance stations as they take unprecedented strike action.
Victorian Ambulance maintenance crews will be taking unprecedented strike action, walking off the job for 24 hours on Monday, after the breakdown of 14 months of pay negotiations.
Ambulance Fleet Maintenance Officers (FMOs) say Ambulance Victoria has failed to recognise their crucial role in keeping ambulances on the road in rural Victoria, and had refused reasonable demands for better pay in a cost-of-living crisis.
FMOs will down their tools and stop work on Monday, April 8, after taking earlier stop-work actions. They will be protesting outside their town’s major ambulance stations from 10am on the day.
“Our crews in fleet feel they have been given no other option but to take industrial action, and have voted accordingly,” United Workers Union’s National Ambulance Co-ordinator, Fiona Scalon, said today.
“The action is a historic first – there is no record of fleet officers being pushed to take this kind of action previously.
“AV doesn’t seem to ‘get’ how important fleet workers are in providing much-needed ambulance services in regional Victoria.
“After 70-plus meetings, Ambulance Victoria has failed to present an offer that addresses the cost-of-living crisis facing our members.
“FMOs have provided enough notice to AV to ensure that contingencies can be put in place to ensure the public’s safety during the action.”
FMOs are the mechanics who ensure ambulance trucks remain operational in regional Victoria. Without fleet, Ambulance Victoria stops – but the pay of FMOs lags behind mechanic counterparts in other emergency services.
FLEET MAINTENANCE OFFICERS:
“We’re not accepting scraps once everyone else has had their fill.” – Lyle, Fleet Maintenance Officer.
“Fleet are the forgotten ones at AV but without us, everything stops.” – Tony, Fleet Maintenance Officer
ENDS
Media Contact: 1300 898 633, [email protected]