On the 19th of June 2009, Victorian paramedics began a historic strike: their first in 36 years. The industrial action is embarrassing for the Victorian government and Ambulance Victoria, not merely because it draws attention to the fact that Victorian paramedics work longer shifts for less pay than their interstate colleagues (with the exception of WA), but also because of public perceptions that paramedics are the ‘good guys’. They work hard at a tough job. They take their community responsibilities seriously.

So when the Australian Electoral Commission finds that 94 percent of Victorian paramedics support strike action you have to wonder: exactly what has Ambulance Victoria done to get the good guys so riled up? 

The main catalyst for the industrial action – now on hold as the union reopens negotiations with Ambulance Victoria and the Minister for Health – is that insufficient breaks between shifts result in dangerous levels of fatigue and poor quality of life.

Victorian paramedic Alan Collie told RTWMatters about the frightening consequences of working consecutive 14-hour night shifts, with just 8 hours between shifts to recover.

“Let’s say it’s 3am on your second night shift. Regularly, around the city branches you don’t get meal breaks. You start work at five o’clock and you might only have had four or five hours sleep prior to that. By five o’clock in the morning, your mind is just a fog. You really cannot concentrate on attending to patients, trying to do complex calculations if they’re required. Even asking patients questions regarding what’s wrong with them is beyond you.

“If you’re the one driving at the time – and it’s happened to me a number of times – you might have a micro-sleep while you’re driving and you just drift. You just slip away. Fortunately at that time there’s not a lot of traffic. Only about six or eight weeks ago I was on a second night shift and I found myself wandering across Ballarat Road on my way to Footscray Hospital with a patient in the back. I realised and jerked the steering wheel back to the other side. My partner in the back got a fright, the patient got a fright, I got a fright. It’s very, very taxing.” 

Other paramedics have spoken about the impact that fatigue has on their personal lives: on their ability to make plans and socialise, to interact positively with family and friends, and to get things done in their time off work.

All the evidence suggests that fatigue is a serious problem at Ambulance Victoria, with potentially life-threatening consequences for both paramedics and their patients. Unfortunately, it is not the only problem that Victorian ambos are facing.

During conversations with paramedics over the last few weeks, RTWMatters has learnt that there is an additional, less obvious reason for the strike: an acrimonious workplace culture, founded on a sense that management simply are not listening to workers’ legitimate concerns.
In the words of one fed-up paramedic we spoke to, “Everyone’s had enough. We don’t feel supported by our management at all. You’re treated very much as a number from a management point of view.”

The perception that management just don’t care is a subjective one; however, there are concrete things that Ambulance Victoria has done – or failed to do – that contribute to this widely held view. These include:

• Failing to provide workers’ with proper acknowledgement for their service. Not only do Victorian paramedics have poorer remuneration and conditions than most other Australian ambos, but management also neglect to give people a pat on the back when it is clearly warranted.

A paramedic told RTWMatters, “There’ve been people recently who’ve retired after 30 years of service in the job and they’re not even acknowledged. It’s just like yep, hand in your keys and that’s it.”

From Alan’s perspective, management fail to recognise “that you’re a person and not just a number that fills a roster placement for that day”.

• Creating the perception that KPIs and bonuses matter more than people. Alan believes that group managers push paramedics to work harder in order to secure their own bonuses.

“Really, all they’re interested in is getting their $15 000 bonus based on how quickly we can push buttons in an ambulance. We’re the ones responsible for that, but if we achieve that then they get their bonuses,” he said.   

• Paying lip service to company policies without putting them into practice. While meal breaks are company policy, in practice, said Alan, ambos are expected to work through busy shifts without taking a break.

Another paramedic told us that Ambulance Victoria’s public statements about looking after traumatised workers far exceed the support that distressed ambos actually receive.

“They say that there’s support implemented for us when there are traumatic things and they always put it in the media that when something big happens, the paramedics involved will be receiving support and counselling,” the paramedic said. “That’s pretty much all lies.”

• Poor communication between management and people on the ground. We were told by one paramedic that this has had a huge impact on morale.

“Morale has been really low for a long time, because the management never really comes down to our level and asks us how we’re going. Some of them have been paramedics but haven’t been on-road for a long time and they’ve forgotten what it’s like.”

• Having meaningless, non-transitional modified duties and failing to support RTW. According to Alan – who recently injured his shoulder and has returned to work – the modified duties on offer “don’t lead you to anything; there’s nothing transitional about them. It’s more like, you’re an inconvenience, let’s put you somewhere.”

None of these management oversights is directly linked to the strike; however, it seems unlikely that Victoria’s paramedics would have resorted to industrial action if an “us versus them” mentality didn’t dominate in their workplace.

Not every organisation is vulnerable to industrial action when the relationship between management and workers sours; however, poor morale, rising workers’ comp costs, lower productivity and decreased employee loyalty are the logical outcomes of this kind of situation. Learn from Ambulance Victoria’s mistakes: keeping the good guys happy by listening and showing respect is worth it.