We have a problem that needs to be solved. It’s reached a climax – though there could be higher peaks yet to come – in Melbourne, but the issue is nation-wide.

Our ambos are fatigued, they’re not getting the working conditions they need, and they feel that no-one’s listening.

That’s why today, for the first time in 36 years, Ambulance Employees Association Victoria Secretary Steve McGhie said paramedics have decided to strike, and are conducting 4-hourly stop work meetings around the state. It’s an action McGhie called “extreme”, but it reflects how seriously untenable ambos consider their working situation and how united they are in their call for change. (For more from McGhie and others speaking in a ‘Response Time: Our ambos, our lives’ press conference, click here.)

Paramedics say they aren’t getting proper rests, and are calling upon the government and Ambulance Victoria to deliver 10-hour rest breaks. Apart from the physical risk to both the paramedics and their patients  – driving an ambulance van at high speeds while fatigued, for example or performing drug calculations while mentally exhausted are hardly ideal – there is an emotional effect associated with fatigue which has repercussions on home life and family and social relationships. 

Paramedic Allan Collie has spoken about his love for the job, which is threatened by working conditions that aren’t sustainable: “We want to help the community, but we want to do it safely and we want to do it with respect from the government and from Ambulance Victoria,” he said.

We’ll be speaking with paramedics, return to work coordinators, the union and hopefully Ambulance Victoria in the coming weeks to bring you more on this issue, including different voices from within the problem scenario and updates on the situation.

We’re asking:

• What do workers want? What aren’t they getting that lets them do their job?
• What effect is the conflict having on staff-management relations, and on relations between staff?
• What effects are the working conditions having on employees both in and out of the workplace?
• How might the situation be resolved?
• Its consequences have the potential to affect us all, and it’s a case of workplace discontent that provides lessons we can all observe and learn from.

Stay with us to find out how a flawed workplace culture can be repaired, and why reparation is so important.