Tasmanian ambulance workers will begin rolling overtime bans after overwhelmingly rejecting the state government’s latest pay offer.
The Health and Community Services Union (HACSU) says paramedics and communications staff will walk off in 24-hour blocks across the state in the coming weeks.
The action marks the first in what the union warns will be a series of escalating measures.
Negotiations have been running for 10 months, with more than 20 meetings held without reaching a deal.
HACSU state secretary Robbie Moore said both sides had attempted to settle on a “shorter-term agreement” that would have addressed “several substantive and important issues”, but without success.
“The offer fell flat on workers who have, for years now, been working hard to hold together a failing system,” he said.
“The government was unable to convince workers that they would, in fact, deliver on those important outcomes.”
Sub-branch president Simone Haigh said workers had grown increasingly frustrated with the pace of talks.
“All we saw up until a few weeks ago was constant stalling,” she said.
“Now the offer is just far too little too late.”
Health Minister Bridget Archer said the government was disappointed by the decision and urged the union to return to the table.
“We’re still at the table, we want to negotiate and reach agreement as we have with other health sector workers,” she said.
“There’s no need for industrial action, we can just continue to have those negotiations and work towards an agreement.”
