Ambulances will be on rolling strikes today. Photo: St John / Supplied
St John is asking the public to save ambulances for emergencies today during another strike by ambulance workers and call-centre staff.
Ambulance workers and call-centre staff have begun 24 hours of rolling strikes from 4am, in a repeat of Tuesday's action.
Unions are warning that more strike action is likely, unless the government comes up with more cash for ambulance services.
St John spokesperson Dan Ohs said Saturdays were one of the busiest days of the week, with more people travelling, drinking alcohol, playing sport or doing DIY around the house.
The day had been challenging, but unions had worked closely with the service to ensure that Life Preserving Services were available nationwide, he said.
Teams had been able to provide 70 percent of St John's usual ambulance coverage so far, said Ohs.
He said demand had been up through the mid-morning with a surge of calls relating to non-urgent conditions.
"In many instances, we are assessing patients over the phone and either providing treatment advice or referring them to other health providers.
Ohs said St John did not have any reports of patient adversity or complaints due to the strike on Saturday.
But he emphasised there was no room for complacency in the evening.
First Union and New Zealand Ambulance Association ambulance officers rallying in Auckland. Photo: Supplied / First Union
"We anticipate high demand late this afternoon and into the evening. Saturday nights are typically busy for ambulance and other emergency services, and this weekend there are numerous events taking place across the country," he said.
"By all means in an emergency dial 111, however for less-urgent, clearly non-life-threatening cases we are asking the public to call Healthline or seek advice from their pharmacy in the first instance."
It is the first time ever that ambulance workers have voted to withdraw their labour, and follows nine months of bargaining without result.
New Zealand Ambulance Association secretary Mark Quinn said members did not feel listened to.
"They're disappointed and gutted, and even almost broken about the fact they've had to go this far to get recognition and publicity."
Quinn said members knew walking off the job on a weekend for the first time ever was a huge deal, but it showed how "frustrated and desperate" they were.
"Yes it is a big deal, and we haven't made this decision lightly. But our members have told us, told the union, that 'we feel like we have no other way to get our point across because St John has not been actively listening, in terms of active progression of the pay dispute'."
The unions are calling on the government to fully fund ambulance services.
'There's inadequate funding'
First Union and New Zealand Ambulance Association ambulance officers rallying in Invercargill. Photo: Supplied / First Union
FIRST Union spokesman Paul Watson said it was clear there was huge public support for a fully-funded ambulance service resourced to deal with patient needs.
The public did not want to see a continuation of the "zero-sum, imaginary bargaining every year when St John are due to provide pay increases", he said.
"The government has not provided any indication of further funding for St John and we fear that we'll be heading back to the bargaining table next week with no new information and no direction from those responsible for ensuring the smooth running of our ambulance services.
"There's inadequate funding. There's only 82 percent of Crown funding going into the operational costs of St John and we're calling for 100 percent of that funding that amounts to $60 million additional funding."
Watson warned both FIRST Union and NZAA members were likely to vote this week on a series of further strike actions.
An indicative survey of FIRST Union members showed that over 90 percent of members would tentatively support further withdrawals of labour, and all options were on the table.
"We understand that there has been some communication obviously since the notice of strike action with the government agencies, which are Te Whatu Ora and ACC and St John around the Crown funding arrangement," said Watson.
He said the government needed to step up now and fix the funding arrangement, not push it out.
New Zealand Ambulance Association secretary Mark Quin said there had been significant support from both union members and the general public at various pickets around the country.
"It emphasises the importance of having a viable ambulance service in NZ that is well-funded and with ambulance officers, paramedics and communication staff paid accordingly in recognition of the role they do in the community and more so as sometimes the only health resource the general public can access in real time.
"NZAA will be reviewing the situation next week with FIRST Union but already NZAA members are indicating support for further withdrawals of labour and upwards of 12 hours per shift as opposed to the four hours tomorrow."
However, Ohs from St John said he was hopeful that talks next week could break the impasse.
"We are meeting with our unions formally for bargaining on Thursday and Friday and we are optimistic that we can reach some kind of settlement.
"But obviously that's a level of detail that we need to work through with unions across the table next week."
There will also be pickets planned throughout Saturday at locations in Auckland, Christchurch, Hamilton, Dunedin, Invercargill, Palmerston North, Whanganui and Whangārei.
