Bargaining updates
Employee vote outcome – 16 December 2024
A clear majority of Ambulance Victoria paramedics and their colleagues have voted in favour of a new enterprise agreement aimed at improving their experience at work while delivering timely high-quality care to the Victorian community.
78.9 per cent of eligible employees voted in the ballot, which closed at 4pm on Monday 16 December, with 97.3 per cent voting in support of the Ambulance Victoria Enterprise Agreement 2024.
This new four-year agreement delivers a significant package of entitlements and conditions which will allow Ambulance Victoria to cement its position as one of the world’s leading ambulance services.
The Agreement will deliver tangible improvements for our people – from their experience at work and how they are supported, to their salary and career, work-life balance and mobility, and improved equity in access to conditions and opportunities.
Importantly, the Agreement recognises the need to deliver a better end-of-shift experience, so more paramedics can finish work on time.
I thank our people for their support, feedback and patience as we have worked through this process. I’d also like to recognise the bargaining parties – including the Victorian Ambulance Union (VAU) and the United Workers’ Union (UWU) – for their collaborative and constructive approach to these negotiations.
The Agreement will be submitted to the Fair Work Commission for approval. Once reviewed and approved, it will become operative seven days post approval by the Fair Work Commission.
Ambulance Victoria looks forward to continuing to work closely with our people and the VAU and UWU to implement the new enterprise agreement.
Ambulance Victoria is committed to delivering a world-leading ambulance service that is focused on positive patient health outcomes, and the way we connect with each other, our partners and the broader health system.
Andrew Crisp AM APM
Ambulance Victoria Interim Chief Executive Officer
The access period begins – November 2024
The Victorian Government has endorsed Ambulance Victoria (AV) commencing the employee approval process under the Fair Work Act for the Ambulance Victoria Enterprise Agreement 2024 (AVEA 2024).
This next key stage is known as the access period required by the Fair Work Act, which will run from Thursday, 21 November 2024 until Sunday, 1 December 2024.
The access period provides employees with the opportunity to read through the proposed AVEA 2024 so they understand what changes are proposed from the current enterprise agreement and what our operational workforce will shortly be voting on.
After the access period concludes, the employee vote on the proposed agreement will commence at 9am on Monday 2 December 2024 and will remain open for two weeks, concluding at 4pm on Monday 16 December 2024.
The employee vote will be managed by an external company named CiVS to provide a secure, independent and confidential voting experience.
Joint Statement from AV, VAU and UWU – September 2024
We are pleased to announce we have reached in-principle agreement for the Ambulance Victoria Enterprise Agreement 2024 (AVEA 2024).
The settlement offer follows careful consideration of 800-plus submitted claims, where we heard directly from you about your experiences, and focused on key priority areas you identified.
We acknowledge that negotiations have taken longer than anyone had hoped, and recognise the impact this had on everyone at AV, along with our partners and community.
We are hopeful this in-principle agreement creates a new and stronger foundation for collaboration, building of trust and cementing our position as a world-leading ambulance service.
Danielle North
Chief Executive Officer (Acting, Ambulance Victoria)
Danny Hill
Victorian Ambulance Union (VAU)
Fiona Scalon
United Workers Union (UWU)
Ambulance Victoria presents additional settlement items – February 2024
Ambulance Victoria (AV) continues to meet with employee bargaining representatives towards the development of a new fair and sustainable settlement offer to resolve the bargaining process for the Ambulance Victoria Enterprise Agreement 2024 (AVEA 2024).
Importantly, the Victorian Government provided AV with approval in late February 2024 to present four additional items for the settlement proposal that seek to address key areas raised by employees through their bargaining representatives.
AV is committed to having detailed discussions with employee bargaining representatives to develop a settlement offer that addresses as many of the priority areas identified by our workforce as possible, within the approved parameters provided by the Victorian Government.
Two employee bargaining representatives, the Victorian Ambulance Union (VAU) and the United Workers Union – Ambulance Employees Australia Victoria (UWU-AEAV) have instigated a ballot of their members in relation to potential protected industrial action.
AV supports our people’s right to advocate for improvements to their experience at work and in doing so, we will continue to ensure that any patient who needs an ambulance will get one.
Ambulance Victoria presents settlement offer – December 2023
In seeking to resolve negotiations for the Ambulance Victoria Enterprise Agreement 2024 (AVEA 2024) and create a better workplace for our people, Ambulance Victoria has presented a settlement offer to our people and employee bargaining representatives.
To develop the settlement offer, Ambulance Victoria carefully considered the 800-plus submitted claims, the priority areas identified by our people and their bargaining representatives, and the impacts for our people, our operational performance and budget.
The offer delivers within the Victorian Government Wages Policy and Enterprise Bargaining Framework, which assures increases of 3 per cent per annum (including wages and conditions/allowances) over the life of an agreement.
The offer includes items to help improve equality, diversity and inclusion; career and salary; our people’s experience at work; support; work mobility; and flexibility and balance.
Bargaining is due to resume from Thursday, 11 January 2024.
Progressing negotiations on 800-plus claims – September 2023
With more than 800 submitted claims to be considered during negotiations for the Ambulance Victoria Enterprise Agreement 2024 (AVEA 2024), Ambulance Victoria has worked with employee bargaining representatives to group related claims to help progress discussions.
Negotiations have progressed well and claim groups discussed to date include locations of work, end of shift management, flexibility, rostering, uniform and protective clothing, salary packaging, WorkCover and rehabilitation and some claims specific to job classifications.
Ambulance Victoria is committed to discussing all claims during the bargaining process and the agreed order in which claims are being discussed does not reflect the importance of any particular claim or claim group.
We have identified some claims we want to discuss further to explore the potential for achievable alternatives that consider the impact for our people, operational performance and budget. Ambulance Victoria is currently working to develop achievable alternatives for consideration by bargaining representatives to improve our people’s experience at work.
AV is committed to working with employee bargaining representatives to negotiate a new Enterprise Agreement that is fair, reasonable and financially sustainable, to continue building a workplace where our people thrive and we deliver best care to our patients.
Ambulance Victoria shares its log of claims – June 2023
Negotiations for the Ambulance Victoria Enterprise Agreement (AVEA 2024) are progressing well and on 20 June 2023 we shared the Ambulance Victoria employer log of claims with our people after presenting it to employee bargaining representatives.
Ambulance Victoria wants to deliver a new Enterprise Agreement that addresses the evolving needs of our workforce and helps meet the increasingly complex and demanding health care and service delivery environment.
Our log of claims has 11 claims as starting points for discussion to improve our workplace for our people and patients.
In some cases, Ambulance Victoria wants to discuss changes to align to recent updates to the Fair Work Act, and to the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission recommendations on equality and workplace reform.
During bargaining, Ambulance Victoria has the opportunity to work with employee representatives to achieve additional improvements to our people’s experience at work in response to more than 800 submitted claims.
In discussing the large number of claims submitted by your representatives, Ambulance Victoria has identified six key themes we believe will guide the bargaining process to deliver a positive outcome.
To help improve our workplace for our people and patients, Ambulance Victoria wants to agree a new Enterprise Agreement that delivers mutually beneficial outcomes including improvements to equality, diversity and inclusion; career and salary; experience at work; support; work mobility; and flexibility and balance.
Bargaining commences – February 2023
Ambulance Victoria and employee representatives (the Victorian Ambulance Union (VAU) and United Workers Union/Ambulance Employees Australia Victoria (UWU/AEAV) met in early February 2023 to commence negotiations for our next Ambulance Victoria Enterprise Agreement (the AVEA 2024) to continue building an organisation in which our people thrive, to support the delivery of Best Care for the Victorian community.
This is in line with the requirement to commence bargaining 12 months prior to the expiry of the current AVEA 2020.
The AVEA 2024 will contain the employment terms and conditions for some administrative roles covered by the agreement and our operational workforce for the next few years. Working with our people to reach agreement for this new Enterprise Agreement is a priority for us.
Ambulance Victoria commenced discussions by outlining our commitment to working with employee representatives to identify opportunities to achieve the best possible outcome for our people, our organisation and the Victorian community while meeting the increasingly complex and demanding health care and service delivery challenges ahead.
We spent time at the first meeting discussing each other’s priorities and why they are important to our employees, as well as setting up the arrangements to support a constructive and collaborative bargaining period ahead.
We look forward to working with our people and their employee representatives to agree our new Ambulance Victoria Enterprise Agreement in 2024.
