More from the increasing-volume-of-calls dept.: http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/03/10/climate.report.ap/index.html...

'The harmful effects of global warming on daily life are already showing up, and within a couple of decades hundreds of millions of people won't have enough water, top scientists will say next month at a meeting in Belgium.

At the same time, tens of millions of others will be flooded out of their homes each year as the Earth reels from rising temperatures and sea levels, according to portions of a draft of an international scientific report obtained by The Associated Press.'

Add climate change to the reasons EMTs and others will have no shortage of work in the next few decades. I hate to sound doom-and-gloomish, but if I make it to my early 80s, I will be punching out at around 2050. I am glad; I have little interest in seeing what 2100 looks like.

No, Tom, that is what they pay us; what we are worth is a rather different matter

This, this, this, this, this.

I'd second that - pay and worth are two different issues, witness the fact Jade Goody is rich and useless while many people are underpaid and yet invaluable.

Yeah - I like that alot. To the point and so very well said

I used to work as a lifeguard, in a public swimming pool and I recieved exactly the same wage as Laura. Now, we lifeguards undergo an initial weeks worth of training and then monthly updates for what is, essentially, a very easy job. The fact that I was paid the same hourly rate for a casual post as ambulance staff get for one of the toughest jobs is staggering, and something that the Government should have been forced to act on years ago.

Agenda for Change promised - 'recognition and reward for skills and competencies', it also purports to be a system that 'should improve recruitment and retention and contribute to making the NHS a model employer.

In the case of ambulance personnel it would seem the NHS has based its model on Soviet farm collective - why can't the mandarins understand that even surly teenagers working as swimming pool attendents earn £7 per hour.

You can be certain that when crews are receiving plaudits after the next 'major incident', none of the media-seeking politicos would dare to mention anything about miserly pay.

A4C lol well wot can u say

yes it sucks

by the way just read ur book pritty good mate i can relate to 99% of the jobs and u made me laugh
by the way im a para in newport wales
and we were the last 1s to go on A4C

thx amo

I am positively ashamed of our government.

I had no idea just how little you all are paid, especially for how highly skilled you are and the type of work you have to perform.

I'd be willing to bet that John and Jane Q. Public, don't either. As the press are so bloody found of pointing out the perceived short-comings of LAS staff, perhaps it's pay-back time and one of them should do a counter piece on everything you go through in a day, highlighting that it's all for £7-10 an hour.

I'm really glad that I made up plates of homemade biscuits for the ambulance crew to take away when a family member had a kitchen knife fall onto her foot over Christmas. It really was the least I could do to repay them.

As PTS i earn just slightly less then Laura, and collegues of mine are on more. Plus we don't get the London bonus...

Its completely shocking. If i had got onto the tech course thats currently running, i would be earning less, than i am now :(

That make me angry. As an employee of the 'Government' (I work in a secondary school as a member of the associate staff), I get £12.75 an hour. Now I don't want my salary lowering, but where's the justice in that. I (by my own admission) sit at a desk all day drinking endless cups of coffee dealing with paperwork - hardly requires the same skills as an ambulance worker. I am just lost for words at the lack of balance across the system.

I have been in the job a long time now (40 years this year!) but I still do not understand the pay differences. I'm a paramedic on £12.68 per hour. We get 25% unsocial hours allowance as well.

Lucky

Yep - you guys are definitely underpaid!
You are definitely doing sterling work. Fortunately my only contact with an ambulance is when I call one for someone else, that said without Ambulances there would be A LOT less people in this country.

I'm a trainee tech, and at the moment i'm earning about £6.75ph (that's including 25% shift allowance), it's supposed to go up quite a bit after the first year but i'm sure they'll find a way to shaft me again before then.

But the problem is that you still turn up for work. Perhaps you should unionise and strike? But then St John would come in - and do it for free.

So maybe, that's actually all you should be paid - since that's what we collectively accept.

Are you guys like the Police force? you're not allowed to strike?

....just wondering what would actually happen if hundreds of Ambulence workers didn't turn up for their jobs over the next couple of days...

I think the government would soon feel under pressure to do something about your pay then. That's just an insult for the stuff you guys go through.

What would you think if one of your relatives died because an ambulance wasn't available due to hundreds of abulance staff just not turning up for work?
In reality it's a bit more complicated.
There have been strikes recently, certainly on Merseyside, it just hasn't made the National media, and the staffing was covered by another union who didn't strike and St Johns.

£7.52 per hour for Laura?

Sounds like a good deal - does she know any special tricks?

Martin.

£7.52 per hour for Laura?

Sounds like a good deal - does she know any special tricks?

Martin.