Victorian paramedics are set to receive double-digit pay rises under a deal to end a long-running dispute with the state government.
The Victorian Ambulance Union reached an in-principle agreement with Ambulance Victoria and Premier Jacinta Allan on Monday for improved pay and conditions.
The wage increases will range from 16.98 per cent to 33 per cent over the next four years, including more than 20 per cent for experience paramedics.
An additional $12500 relativity uplift for highly skilled, or MICA, paramedics would deliver overall increases of up to 33 per cent.
There will also be $5 per hour availability allowances for rural Ambulance officers who volunteer to respond in remote areas.
Victorian Ambulance Union secretary Danny Hill said the deal means the paramedics will be amongst the best paid in Australia.
"This deal rewards longer serving ambos, it makes our elite MICA paramedics the highest paid in Australia, it rewards community officers for the time they contribute to their community, and most of all it will help our members finish their shift on time and get home to their families," he said.
Improvements to clinical instructor allowances, unsociable shift allowances, on call allowances, reserve/flexibility allowances and travel allowances are also part of the deal.
Also, paramedics will no longer be sent to lower acuity cases in the last hour of a shift and will taken out of service once their hours are up.
Instead, they will only be contacted for confirmed life-threatening emergencies.
