Another strike by ambulance workers has been announced in the bitter dispute over pay and staffing. Unite said its ambulance members will walk out on January 23.
The union said it will work with local trusts to ensure life and limb emergency cover. More than 2,600 ambulance workers in the West Midlands, North West, North East, East Midlands and Wales will be involved in the walkout. Unite said the strike marks an escalation in the dispute as more workers will take action than during a previous strike last month.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: "Unite's ambulance workers have been left with no option but to take industrial action. They are fighting to protect patients, to save the ambulance service and the NHS itself, as well as providing for their families.
"The Government has had months to intervene and end this dispute but has failed to do so. They choose to attack NHS workers rather than get more money for the NHS from profiteering companies. They repeatedly refuse to sit down and negotiate in order to resolve the dispute.
"The talks the Government has lined up for Monday yet again look like nothing more than a smokescreen and are clearly not a negotiation on NHS pay. But this is real and urgent. NHS staff need their bills paying now. Vital health workers are leaving the service now. Patients are suffering and dying now. The Prime Minister needs to step up to the moment and lead. That is what he is paid for."
Unite national lead officer Onay Kasab said: "The Government has repeatedly missed open goals to resolve this dispute. Unions have been invited to talk and then told they can't talk about pay, in a pay dispute.
"The Government must get its head out of the sand and finally enter into serious negotiations about pay in order to avert further industrial action. The general public must be as mystified as our ambulance workers as to why the Government is not moving heaven and earth to solve this dispute."
In line with the previous industrial action, Unite's representatives will be working at a local level to agree derogations to ensure that emergency cover is in place during the strike. The industrial action will be for 24 hours from midnight in Wales, the North West, North East and East Midlands. The West Midlands strike will be for 12 hours from 6am to 6pm.
Unite members employed by the Welsh Ambulance Service will also be taking an initial day of industrial action on January 19. Ambulance workers in Unison are also striking on January 23. Unison and the GMB are holding a joint ambulance strike next Wednesday.
