Ambulance officers offer free rides in industrial dispute, but are ordered to engage in mediation with State Government

A day after the ambulance union began offering free rides in a dispute over resources, it has been ordered to negotiate with the Government.

The ambulance union has been ordered to engage in mediation with the State Government over its ongoing industrial dispute.

SA Employment Tribunal President Justice Steven Dolphin issued the direction on Thursday.

Treasurer Rob Lucas welcomed the decision, saying he hoped it led to “sensible discussions”.

“The Government has always been willing to negotiate fairly and sensibly with the union, in the interests of hardworking paramedics and all South Australians, as we strive to further improve our ambulance service,” he said.

Mr Lucas reiterated the Government was willing to provide additional resources to the ambulance service in return for the union agreeing to industrial reforms.

Such reforms included reducing shifts from 12 hours to 8-10 hours and making ambulance officers take their meal breaks at the closest ambulance station, rather than travelling back to their base for the break.

“We remain of the view that the only way to resolve this industrial dispute is for there to be compromise on both sides,” Mr Lucas said.

As of 5pm Wednesday, paramedics had stopped charging patients who waited too long for ambulances or are ramped at hospitals.

Paramedics ceased billing patients who experienced long ambulance response times, those who were ramped and those who were tended to by an on-call ambulance.

The Ambulance Employees Association state secretary Phil Palmer fronts the media earlier this month.

The union is also organising a rally, which may even include other emergency service unions.

It wants more funding for extra ambulances and about 300 additional paramedics to tackle increasing ramping and response times.

The union says it will continue its industrial action until the March 2022 State Election if its demands are not met.

It comes after the union last week issued the Government an ultimatum – provide additional services or else it would launch industrial action.

About 200 ambulance officers unanimously voted in favour of the action at a meeting in Adelaide last week.

Ambulance Employees Association state secretary Phil Palmer said the union had not heard from the Government so it gave the action the green light at 5pm.

Mr Palmer said the union felt that ambulance patients with long wait times were not receiving an adequate service and therefore should not have to pay for it.

He did not rule out extending the freebie to all ambulance patients.

“If we stop billing all patients, that may be the next step, it could cost (the Government) about $600,000 to $700,000 a day, and that goes straight to the Treasury coffers, not to the ambulance service,” he said.

Mr Palmer said the union wanted the Government to “do the right thing and that means putting on the resources need”.

“It’s nothing to do with wages – It’s about safety,” he said.

Mr Palmer said it was “time for Premier (Steven) Marshall to step in”.

“Stop playing Russian roulette with South Australian lives,” he said.

Opposition health spokesman Chris Picton called on the Government to give the ambulance the service the extra resources it wanted.

“Lives are at risk if (ramping and hospital overcrowding) continues,” he said.

“We’ve already seen deaths because of ramping and lack of resources for ambulances and that’s set to continue sadly in the future unless action is taken.”

Treasurer Rob Lucas said it was “disappointing” the union decided to move forward with its industrial action.

“Taking industrial action doesn’t solve the problem,” he said.

Furthermore, Mr Lucas said the union was incorrect in asserting that the money obtained from ambulance ride fees went into the Government’s general coffers. He said that money went straight back to the ambulance service.

“All it means is there will be less money for the ambulance service for them to deliver the ambulance services,” he said.

Mr Lucas said the Government was prepared to provide a yet-to-be-determined amount of additional resources to the ambulance service if the union would agree to “sensible reforms”.

He said this included reducing paramedic fatigue by reducing shifts from 12 hours to 8-10 hours and making ambulance officers take their meal breaks at the closest ambulance station, rather than travelling back to their base for the break.

The union argues this would mean that ambulances would continually be out of their areas, stretching out response times for local jobs.