Tasmanian paramedics are starting to scale back their industrial action after making a significant step forward in negotiations for a new pay deal. After months of protracted negotiations, the Health and Community Services Union (HACSU) has claimed a breakthrough. The union’s Tim Jacobson said an offer of an 8 per cent pay rise over four years backdated to 2014 had been put on the table by Government negotiators. He believes it is more than the 5 per cent HACSU had previously been asking for. “The wages offer itself is superior, it backdates and pays increases that were owed to our members,” he said. Paramedics’ pay has been the subject of a long and bitter dispute, that resulted in workers writing anti-government messages on ambulances and refusing to do some overtime.
