Last week, union officials met with officials from the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission (VEOHRC) to discuss Ambulance Victoria’s progress with the VEOHRC’s 43 recommendations. During the meeting, union officials provided feedback on several issues:
Ambulance Victoria’s failure to investigate the root cause of the gender pay gap within the service and to submit findings to the People and Culture Committee by June 2023.
The union pointed out that neither the report’s findings nor a copy of the report itself had been shared with staff or the union.
As of June 2024, Ambulance Victoria’s Gender Equity Action Plan (GEAP) mandates the adoption of a pay gap target based on this research. The union expressed concern that little meaningful progress had been made in addressing this critical issue at Ambulance Victoria. Noting that this lack of progress coincided with a group of undervalued administrative staff advocating for a necessary pay increase through enterprise bargaining.
Similarly, the union raised concerns about members facing difficulties in receiving a response to their written letter to Ambulance Victoria CEO Jane Miller, requesting a meeting to discuss equity within the service. Though Jane Miller did eventually meet with members, it took multiple requests from the union to secure the meeting. The union expressed to VEOHRC officials that this demonstrated a lack of leadership from the CEO in fostering genuine equity and transparency within the workplace.
