St John is pleased to have made a significant and unconditional offer to its three unions to settle bargaining for a new collective agreement.
The offer delivers on St John’s commitment to improve the pay of frontline ambulance staff by implementing the full findings of an independent remuneration review. This is the biggest pay correction and increase in the history of the ambulance service.
We are able to make this unconditional offer following confirmation by the Government that they will provide a sufficient contribution to enable the full implementation of the independent pay review.
We are working positively with two unions who have confirmed they are taking the offer out to their members for ratification.
There remains a single unresolved issue over penal rates for our third union which will be heard by the Employment Relations Authority and/or the Employment Court in 2021.
We have made an offer to implement all recommendations in full within our affordability - including 15% penal rates and committing to maintain predictable rostering arrangements - so if increased penal rates were awarded it would not be possible to offer other parts of the remuneration progression package.
Partial strike notices were issued by FIRST Union ahead of the Employment Relations Authority and/or the Employment Court hearing relating to their members not wearing uniform and not completing clearing codes on jobs and these actions came into effect Wednesday, 4 November, impacting on St John’s ability to generate income from associated providers and part-charges, affecting staff morale and disrupting the delivery of our services.
Additional strike notices have been issued today including full withdrawal of labour taking effect for a 24-hour period from 6.00am Wednesday, 25 November. St John is working through the detail of how our emergency service will be delivered, including implementing additional cover, to lessen the impact on our patients and the public.
Any industrial action must be undertaken in a safe and professional manner and St John is working to ensure there is limited negative impact to patients.
We continue to work in good faith with all unions and hope to reach an agreement that meets the needs of all parties.
PLEASE ATTRIBUTE TO ST JOHN DEPUTY CHIEF EXECUTIVE SUE STEEN
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Beverley Tse
St John Communications Advisor
M 027 318 1553
E beverley.tse@stjohn.org.nz