A union boss has called on the NSW government to hash out a paramedic wage dispute that is threatening to crash triple-0 from New Year’s Day.
NSW stands to lose about 2000 paramedics from the Health Services Union (HSU) who have pledged to boycott professional registration, meaning they won’t be able to work from midnight, January 1.
On Tuesday morning, HSU secretary Gerard Hayes said he had texted NSW Premier Chris Minns at 5am and asked him to gather key decision makers, including NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey and NSW Health Minister Ryan Mark, to meet with union representatives to broker a deal.
Mr Minns and Mr Hayes also spoke on Monday night; however, an agreement was unable to be reached.
Mr Hayes said Mr Minns appeared to think it was “a good idea”.
“Today, I’m calling on the government to get your decision makers together tomorrow. Our union and select representatives will meet with you at 9am tomorrow morning. We’ll stay in that room until the deal is done,” he told reporters at 9am on Tuesday.
“At the moment we’re getting close and then it gets undone by others who aren’t in the room.
“We need to have this resolved so the people of NSW have confidence so they can enjoy the new year as well as Christmas.”
As it stands, the union has rejected the government’s wage offer to increase take-home pay (which includes penalty rates, allowances and overtime) between 11 to 25 per cent over four years.
Instead, the HSU is calling for a 20 per cent increase to the base pay of paramedics, which would put them on pay parity with Queensland paramedics.
Mr Hayes said at this point, representatives for Mr Mookhey and Mr Minns had been missing from discussions.
While Mr Hayes spoke to Mr Minns on Monday night, the union is set to continue arbitration with NSW Health at the Industrial Relations Commission at 2pm on Tuesday.
On Monday, Mr Park committed to continuing negotiations with the union but believed the government had presented a “strong” offer to paramedics.
“We remain at the table because we want to make sure they’re paid more, but at the same time we need to protect one of the bedrocks of our health system and that is triple-0,” he said.
“I know there’s a determination from myself, government and health to get this matter resolved.”
Speaking on ABC, Mr Minns urged paramedics to reconsider their registration boycott.
“We are not saying they have to accept our pay offer, but what we are saying is that if registrations don’t go ahead for paramedics in NSW, then triple-0 calls on the first of January will collapse and that will put lives at risk,” he said.