The last couple of years have been ripe with fatigue.

Many of our frontline workers were asked to not only put their own health at risk but endure being over worked, underpaid and unstaffed. These sacrifices were not only experienced by our members but also endangered the health of their loved ones and their communities. The repeated shortfalls for HSU members have been for the welfare of the wider community have not been recognised by our politicians.

Health Care Workers across all industries have continued to petition with the government to meet us at the negotiation table and give us a liveable wage.

Our Paramedics have had enough. We knew if we wanted to see change, it was time to be apart of it.

HSU Paramedic members across New South Wales took industrial action and refused to go to non-emergency call outs for 5 weeks. This created a wave throughout the public health sector but was a necessary step for this government to take the demands of Paramedics seriously.

Following the industrial action by HSU paramedics, on the 5th of June 2022, the NSW government confirmed that they would invest $1.76 billion into the growth of the sector. Premier, Dominic Perrottet declared the NSW government will fund 1,858 new paramedics and 30 more ambulance stations across the state in the coming budget.

‘Without a serious pay rise it will be hard to recruit and retain the extra paramedics.’
HSU Secretary Gerard Hayes

This was welcomed by the HSU members however fight is not over. Gerard Hayes, secretary of the Health Services Union said it was a historic win for paramedics, who had been “consistently under-resourced” but “paramedics still needed a wages increase to keep up with the cost of living.”

Hayes has also stated “Without a serious pay rise it will be hard to recruit and retain the extra paramedics.”

Since the announcement, the ADHSU has set up a taskforce of active paramedics that are focused in educating the public on what this government investment bodies and what it means for our members and their communities.

The ADHSU members have also put forward Priority 1 as a campaign to fight for wages increases that will combat the rising inflation throughout the county. Over the next couple of months, the ADHSU plans to take Priority 1 to the public and the wider community.