Firefighter Peter Bevis regrets his decision to be the face of Labor's campaign to win last year's state election.

"Putting People First" was the catchcry of Daniel Andrews' successful 2014 election campaign, with the bus carrying the Labor leader adorned with a photo of Mr Bevis, a paramedic and a nurse.

The trio and the premier also featured prominently on millions of How-To-Vote cards.

But nearly 12 months later Mr Bevis, feels "a bit used and abused" by the campaign.

A Labor How-To-Vote Card from Labor's 2014 election featuring Peter Bevis. The firefighter now regrets his decision to be part of the campaign material.

The United Firefighters Union and the Labor government have become embroiled in a very public industrial battle over a new pay agreement. The last agreement expired two years ago.

The government claims the union is being unreasonable and making exorbitant, up to 60 per cent, pay rise demands, while the UFU says the government has betrayed it by trying to wind back conditions.

The union denies the 60 per cent pay claim and Labor says it will not remove a single working condition.

Mr Bevis, who describes himself as "a lefty" was happy last year to show up for a photo, although he was initially surprised at how widely it was used.

He later made it his Facebook profile picture.

A Labor How-To-Vote card from the 2014 election featuring firefighter Peter Bevis.

"I regret being in the photo because of the treatment of firefighters now. It's the sort of stuff we expect from the Liberals," Mr Bevis said.

"I feel naive to have trusted pollies. He said he was going to be different and we believed him. He said he was going to be a realistic negotiator. We recognise he is going to have to be hard, he can't roll over. But it is a scare campaign."

Then-opposition leader Daniel Andrews in front of the Labor campaign bus last year, which featured a picture of firefighter Peter Bevis. Photo: David Thorpe

Away from the firefighter's industrial battle with Labor, Mr Bevis is pleased with aspects of Mr Andrews' government, particularly on social issues.

"He has been a breath of fresh air in most aspects."

Emergency Services Minister Jane Garrett said the government would not take a single condition away from firefighters.

"We want to give them a pay rise above current CPI, deliver new allowances and protect their current conditions," Ms Garrett said. "We want to resolve this as quickly as possible but the claim is too large." Ms Garrett said Labor was delivering every single election commitment, including 450 new firefighters, presumptive legislation, emergency medical response, a post traumatic stress disorder pilot program and the Fiskville inquiry.

Nurse Madeleine Harradence took part in the picture because she thought the Andrews' team was promising good things, especially for nurses.

"I'm pretty happy, this government has been good for us, nurse-patient ratios are important," she said.

The Ambulance union won a lucrative pay deal, after years of dispute with the Coalition, when Labor won office.

Paramedic Sarah Sofianopoulos said she was happy with the performance of the new government saying morale amongst ambulance staff had improved massively. But she also sympathised with the plight of firefighters.