Public Petition For Full Funding Launched As St John Ambos Kick Off Next National Strikes

WHAT:

FIRST Union ambulance officers who work for Hato Hone St John across the country will commence their next withdrawal of labour tomorrow (Friday 27th September) and Monday (30th) while launching a public petition for the full Government funding of New Zealand’s ambulance services.

Striking ambulance officers will be collecting signatures for the petition tomorrow at public locations across the country.

WHEN / WHERE:

Withdrawal of labour: (1) effective from 04:00am on 27 September 2024 for the first 6 hours of employees’ rostered shifts until 04:00am on 28 September 2024; and (2) from 04:00am on 30 September 2024 for the first 6 hours of employees’ rostered shifts until 04:00am on 1 October 2024

Petition signature collection event: 10:00-11:00 on Friday 27 September 2024 outside the train station at Britomart, Auckland

WHY:

Read the Full Ambulance Funding Now! petition - http://www.together.org.nz/full_ambulance_funding_now

Faye McCann, FIRST Union national ambulance coordinator, said that Aotearoa’s ambulance services are too important to be relying on charity funding and the time had come for politicians to step up and fund Hato Hone St John and Wellington Free Ambulance for 100% of operating costs.

"Strike actions like these are the last resort after what has now been 10 months of unsuccessful bargaining with St John," said Ms McCann.

"We can’t keep ending up in these prolonged, zero-sum negotiations with health employers who are not adequately funded by Government to ensure ambulance officers are fairly paid or that patient needs are being met in our communities."

"We were really disappointed that our effective cooperation with other non-affiliated unions has come to a sudden stop following revelations that NZAA and AWUNZ leadership have done a 180 and decided to ratify the latest pay offer from St John on behalf of members."

NZAA (New Zealand Ambulance Association) are a division of the Amalgamated Workers of New Zealand (AWUNZ), and are not affiliated to the Council of Trade Unions.

"We’d agreed collectively in writing that we would not recommend ratification of such a poor offer to our members and were shocked and blindsided when St John confirmed that the NZAA/AWUNZ leadership team had ratified the deal based on a reported ballot of their members," said Ms McCann.

"Our door is open to ambulance officers who aren’t satisfied with a pay offer below the rising cost of living that does not deal with other substantive claims about pay and conditions."

Ms McCann said that launching a public petition for full funding of ambulance services was a way of showing "head in the sand" politicians like Shane Reti and Casey Costello that the status quo was no longer tenable for ambulance services or the people who work for them.

"We know there’s massive public backing for functional emergency health services that don’t rely on charity donations to meet their operating costs," said Ms McCann.

"We’re confident that New Zealanders will support ambulance officers in seeking full funding from Government that meets the promises set out in coalition agreements following the election."

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Petition: For the full petition text and signature collection, visit http://www.together.org.nz/full_ambulance_funding_now

Life Preserving Services agreement: FIRST Union are working cooperatively with St John to ensure that a minimum critical service level is available during strike action, as is required by law.

Membership: There are over 1,100 FIRST Union members at St John, and an estimated 300-400 members were rostered to work on 27 and 30 September and are thus able to take part in the withdrawals of labour. Un-rostered staff have been invited to take part in petition signature collecting events on their days off.

Voting: Over 92% of FIRST Union members at St John voted in favour of this second withdrawal of labour, with over 85% voting to reject ratification of St John’s pay offer to members.

Timeline: FIRST Union representatives have collated a timeline of recent key events at St John - PDF available here

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