Melbourne Chat

Hello T Pot.

What's happening in AmboLand?

There is a big spread of pro Ambo stuff in today's Herald Sun.

See it? You get good press.

So as I see it you are obliged to be on call as little as 8 hours after completing a shift.

That is the problem, yes?

Can I ask how is it that the Ambos are in this untenable situation?

Surely your Union must be the worst in history to allow the problem to exist in the first place.

Almost every job/profession kinda has 12 to 16 hours between shifts.

And that has been the case for all your life anyway, and almost all of mine.

Surely you and others would have been aware of the stipulation when you signed on.

No criticism here I just want to understand better.

The public just want to know that the guys coming to save us in our hour of need don't themselves need saving!

So I'm on your side in this.

Do you get supplied with knee pads for the times you work in broken glass?

Best wishes.

Peter J.

Yeah I could not survive on an 8 hr break. That is nuts. I would be lucky to get 5 hr sleep in that time by the time i drive home <img src='http://www.melbournechat.org/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':ph34r:' />

ok well i personally work 2 10 hour days (7am to 5pm) and then 2 14 hour nights (5pm to 7am) so the only problem for me lies in whether i happen to do some incidental overtime (a job that goes beyond 7am) on my first night shift, thereby cutting into my 10hr break between night shifts.



The 8 hr rest break problem is mainly for those ambos (generally in more rural areas) that work a 10 hr day and then take the ambulance home and are on call all night. Therefore they could do their 7am to 5pm shift, go home, get a job at 9pm which takes til 11pm, then be expected back at work for another 10 hr day at 7am.



If you work in these areas, you often dont have a choice.. they don't have enough ambos to staff the truck for a full 24 hours..



So yea, for me personally, not a big deal - but definitely for those who get a lot of incidental overtime and for those on call.



But yea, some quite extremist press in the Herald Sun, the toughest job in Australia?? dont know about that..

[quote name='PeterJMelb' post='17370' date='Jun 22 2009, 08:08 PM']Do you get supplied with knee pads for the times you work in broken glass?



Best wishes.

Peter J.[/quote]



nah, we're just that tough. we even eat spoonfuls of concrete after each job

[quote name='t-pot' post='17401' date='Jun 23 2009, 01:41 PM']we even eat spoonfuls of concrete after each job[/quote]

<img src='http://www.melbournechat.org/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':ph34r:' />