Tens of thousands of ambulance workers are set to take strike action this week in a pay dispute between trade unions and the government. The ambulance strike is set to follow the second nurses’ strike, amid the most serious industrial unrest in the NHS for decades.
Later this month, ambulance workers will go on strike in the most significant ambulance strike for more than three decades. Christina McAnea, general secretary, has accused the government “complete intransigence”, telling BBC Radio 4 that health secretary Steve Barclay had “adamantly refused” to engage in a “proper discussion” on pay.
The government has also said it will not renegotiate on nurses’ pay, despite warnings that low pay has prompted an exodus from the profession. The government says that any money for increased pay awards would have to be taken from frontline care provision.
