After years of Ambulance Victoria (AV) failing many of its staff with inconsistent, obscure, and unfair recruitment processes, the AEAV has won significant concessions from AV.
Since 2019 the AEAV union has been hammering AV on recruitment issues by letter, submitting grievances, submissions to VEOHRC, seeking assistance from the VPSC and lobbying AV and the Health Ministers office.
Finally, it appears the service has experienced a shift in thinking.
At a meeting on 14 February 2022 between AV COO Libby Murphy and members impacted by AV’s unfair lateral transfer processes, Libby Murphy apologised for the failures in the lateral transfer process.
You can read more about these admissions here which were contained in an email to impacted staff on 4 February 2022.
Libby Murphy also spoke about the recruitment process more broadly and highlighted other long-standing issues that have impacted staff. These include:
- Independent panel members not consistently being appointed
- Over-weighting of interviews in the assessment of candidates
- The need for a formalised process to review recruitment decisions when required
Libby Murphy indicated that she is focused on rectifying these issues. The AEAV will continue to advocate for the proposed remedies that are fair and in accordance with best practice.
Although AV’s admission is long-overdue, the AEAV sees this as an important step in union members’ campaign to improve recruitment processes in accordance with the obligations of the VPSC’s employment standards and the best practice selection of candidates.
Since 2019 the AEAV has been unrelenting in challenging AV on its recruitment process failures. In December 2019, the union wrote to AV questioning the lack of an appropriate redress system for reviewing recruitment decisions, recruitment decisions not always based on merit and concerns with psychometric testing.
More recently, in November 2021 the AEAV assisted a member with a grievance related to secondments and the selection process.
The grievance focused on a lack of independence on the interview panel, the weighting of the interview, and that there was no formalised appropriate process for reviewing decisions.
You can read our letter to AV CEO Tony Walker here regarding the failure to have an appropriate redress system.
The big question is: who in AV is going to be held accountable for the harm caused to staff who, over years, have missed out on promotions?
Part of AV moving forward, and regaining the trust of the workforce, is by AV showing members that accountability applies at every level of the organisation.
Have you been affected by AV’s unfair recruitment practices? Contact the union at [email protected] or call 9287 1713 to leave a voice message.
