General Advice and Assistance
Do you have a general question about your employment such as Pay, Leave, or other Conditions?
APA (VIC) encourages its members to resolve their concerns at the lowest level, and assists them with this proactive management; this may be guiding members to the right people and providing them the right questions to ask.
Members can also:
- review the Forums as the information may be there already
- post a new query on the Forums, as another member (including Committee) may be able to answer it quickly
- call the Association (1300 000 272), as we may be able to answer you immediately, or very soon after; or,
- send the Committee an email or enquiry using the form at Contact APA (VIC) - (we may also ask you to complete this during a phone call if it is a complex query)
Support, Advocacy, and Representation
Do you require assistance preparing for a meeting?
Do you need a support person, or an advocate?
APA (VIC) can provide advice on how to prepare for a meeting, such as a Grievance Meeting or a Performance Review.
We can also arrange for a support person to attend your meeting with you, or act as an advocate in some circumstances. As the majority of our Committee and Liaison Officers are operational staff, we have made sure that whenever possible the employer acknowledges the requirement to allow a support person or advocate to attend, and the responsibility to take reasonable efforts to allow this to occur.
Do you have a concern regarding Policy or Procedures that should be addressed by management?
As mentioned above, APA (VIC) encourages and assists its members resolve their concerns at the lowest level. Unfortunately as this is not possible or practical in all circumstances and matters, we also assist when issues must be addressed at a higher level.
APA (VIC) attends the Ambulance Victoria Consultative Committee meetings and a number of other working groups (including the Ambulance Victoria Enterprise Agreement 2020 Working Group once it commences in 2021) where it is able to raise concerns of a systemic nature without the need for identification of individual members.
APA (VIC) also has a good working relationship with the Executive Management and Steering Committee of Ambulance Victoria and can address issues at this level, if it is determined such action is warranted.
In all cases where assistance is required for Support, Advocacy, or Representation, members should:
- call the Association (1300 000 272) to make us immediately aware of the situation, and
- send the Committee an email providing as much detail as possible, or
- submit initial information using the General Enquiry Form for follow-up.
Professional Legal Advice and Support
Support provided as part of membership
During the initial stages of a request for assistance, the case will be considered and assigned to a member of the Committee or a Liaison Officer.
Because the Association needs to carefully manage resources available to and on behalf of its members, there are a range of Support & Terms Conditions that apply to all enquiries that require support.
When the level of support required is greater or more detailed than can be provided by the Committee or Liaison Officers, APA (Vic) has engaged a specialist firm, Australian Workplace Strategies, to provide advice, assistance, and representation for its members.
When required, AWS provides legal assistance to the Association & Committee for purposes such as Enterprise Bargaining.
More information is available HERE
Additional independent legal support
Australian Workplace Strategies and Parke Lawyers can also be requested to provide individual & independent legal support to members at their own cost, noting that discounts apply for APA (VIC) members.
More information is available HERE
Support Terms & Conditions
Each case is considered separately and the most appropriate support is provided. Some of these considerations are shown on the Support Terms & Conditions page that is available to members.
