Victoria's paramedics are the lowest paid in the country, according to the Ambulance Employees Association.Photo: John Donegan

Victoria's paramedics are the lowest paid in the country, according to the Ambulance Employees Association.
AMBULANCE paramedics are demanding a 30 per cent pay increase, better overtime rates and more support for those injured, psychologically traumatised or bullied on the job.

The log of claims obtained by The Sunday Age and delivered to Ambulance Victoria on Thursday seeks to address ''rock bottom morale'' by delivering improved conditions and pay parity with paramedics in other states.

The Ambulance Employees Association says Victoria's 2500 paramedics are the lowest paid in the country and have called for an 18 per cent pay rise in the first year of the agreement - to bring wages in line with South Australia and the ACT - and 6 per cent a year for the remaining two years.

Victoria has not seen an ambulance strike since the early '70s, but the union says its members are prepared for a long industrial campaign and will walk off the job if negotiations do not progress satisfactorily.

''Unless we do something about pay rates in Victoria we're going to continue to lose more paramedics than what are being recruited,'' said union state secretary Steve McGhie. ''We know the government's wages policy is only 2.5 per cent plus productivity, but we think that Victorian paramedics clearly should be valued the same as paramedics in other states. It's about recruitment and retention and trying to keep people in the job.''

Mr McGhie said Victorian paramedics had the highest injury rate of any public sector group in the state - around one in 10 has submitted a WorkCover claim.

The union's demands include the establishment of a welfare support panel to help redeploy injured staff. The panel would include a mental health expert, a union representative and an employer representative who would ensure paramedics were supported during and after a medical leave of absence.

''The problem in regard to injury rate in the ambulance service is so high they can't keep up with it. The highest rate is to do with back injuries and the movement of patients. The second highest is psychological issues, and that obviously comes from dealing with the pressures of the job, the death and the dying and the trauma that they see,'' Mr McGhie said.

Mr McGhie wrote to the Premier in February saying the union is willing to let the industrial umpire, Fair Work Australia, determine the wage-claim part of the agreement to avoid any major dispute, but he is yet to receive a response.

A spokeswoman for Health Minister David Davis said the government was looking forward to starting negotiations with the union. The current enterprise agreement expires at the end of November.