Eighth mediation meeting between Ambulance Employees’ Association and State Government to be held Friday morning

A dispute over ambulance resourcing will continue on Friday with an eighth mediation meeting, where the union is likely to decide on a government staff offer.

The festering ambulance-resourcing dispute is expected to reach a crunch point at an Employment Tribunal hearing on Friday morning, which is likely to bring mediation to a head.

The eighth mediation meeting between the Ambulance Employees’ Association and the State Government is likely to involve a union decision on whether to accept an offer including the hiring of 70 extra ambulance staff.

Premier Steven Marshall is facing internal pressure to resolve the dispute because of a belief the union and Labor campaign about hospital ramping and ambulance resourcing is biting in the community.

But Ambulance Employees Association (AEA) state secretary Phil Palmer last month revealed the Government had increased its offer of 50 extra staff to 70, then declared the union would not accept the deal.

The eighth mediation meeting between the Ambulance Employees’ Association and the State Government is likely to involve a union decision on whether to accept an offer including the hiring of 70 extra ambulance staff. Picture: Mike Burton

The AEA is demanding more resources for the state’s ambulance service to help relieve overworked staff and improve chronic ramping outside public hospital emergency departments.

But Treasurer Rob Lucas, who is spearheading the industrial talks, has demanded the union agree to roster reform and ambulance staff agree to take lunch breaks at their nearest station, rather than their home base. The roster change would involve reducing 12-hour shifts to eight and 10-hour shifts.

If the AEA agrees to a compromise at this morning’s Employment Tribunal hearing, this would have to go back to members for approval.

If the deadlock cannot be broken, the union is likely to resume industrial action launched on March 10, but stanched by the mediation talks, involving paramedics not charging patients who waited too long.