I've the utmost admiration for all you non-volunteers out there on Op Fresco - and absolutely none for those volunteers holding us all to ransom over an outrageous (verging on greed) 40% pay increase. Ask any paramedic (they are reluctantly accepting 4%) his/her opinion over shift content, relative dangers, activity at RTAs, etc -- and I suspect your average fireman would have a sheepish reaction to the comparison. Were the ambulance service (who, shamedly, are not classed as an emergency service by HMG) to go on strike we would be hard pressed to provide similar cover to that of Op Fresco. The firemen can walk off the job in the knowledge that the Armed Forces will cover their arse: not so for the paramedics - a telling point.
Good luck to those on the Greens!!