Hundreds of ambulance staff will strike tomorrow if discussions between a union and St John fail.

More than 1027 paid ambulance First Union members across New Zealand will stop working for 24 hours from 6am on Wednesday and again on Saturday.

The strike comes after an agreement between St John and union staff promising time and a quarter on weekend and night shifts was not followed through, First Union’s national ambulance co-coordinator Sarah Stone​ said.

St John has said it cannot afford the additional rate but is offering a pay settlement which it said was the largest in its history.

It included one-off settlement payments for all staff, penal rates of 15 percent, and St John paying paramedics their registration fees.

Sarah Stone says St John’s refusal to honour the agreement amounts to mass wage theft from ambulance professionals and taxpayers.

“These workers reached a legally binding agreement with St John that covers their employment on the basis that from this year onwards, they would not be earning less than the agreed penal rates.”

“They’ve done their part – including working through the Covid-19 pandemic, the eruption of Whakaari and the Christchurch shootings – and now St John is withholding money from them in an attempt to leverage them into agreeing to something else that suits them better.”

“This is wage theft of the worse kind. We are likely talking in excess of $5m dollars that has already been withheld from these workers.”

“Our ambulance professionals deserve better, and the New Zealand public deserve to know that this is how their ambulance service is being run by St John.”