TAMWORTH paramedics have welcomed Premier Gladys Berejiklian’s commitment to increasing their death and disability cover, on the back of a 90-day statewide campaign to put them on par with their police counterparts.
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The state’s paramedics have campaigned to reverse cuts to their death and disability pension since the reduced cover was announced in August.
The anticipated January 17 announcement about the improvements to the cover was delayed until January 31.
And despite vowing to improve paramedics’ cover, the new premier is yet to officially hand down an announcement, as “discussions continue”.
Health Services Union New England sub-branch secretary Brian Bridges has welcomed Ms Berejiklian’s commitment to improve cover – which saw entitlements cut to 75 per cent of a pay packet for just two years.
“Unfortunately when we got the resignation of Mike Baird, it put us in limbo,” Mr Bridges said.
“But we’ve heard from Gerard Hayes (HSU secretary) that (Ms Berejiklian) is going to honour his work.
“(We’re expecting) a bigger and better policy than what we had before”.
Mr Bridges expects the changes will be backdated to August last year when the cuts were introduced.
“There was no way in the world we were going to back down (from the campaign) until we got what we wanted,” Mr Bridges said.
“We just wanted our protection. Certainly the guaranteed new policy will put is in parity with the police force (cover).”
Ms Berejiklian said options were being worked through.
“It is the NSW government’s responsibility to ensure our paramedics, who work so hard to support all of us during our toughest times, get the protection and support they need in their workplace,” Ms Berejiklian said.
“We remain committed to providing increased death and disability cover to paramedics – and I have spoken to the HSU to reassure them of this commitment. Discussions are continuing but it is expected that we will be able to present options to paramedics in the near future.”