Nearly 10,000 NHS workers are to be balloted by Unite in the coming days in the latest vote on strikes, along with thousands of other healthcare staff who have already been voting. The union, which represents 100,000 workers across the NHS, said voting papers are going out across 36 NHS trusts and organisations in England and Wales.
Members working in frontline patient care and essential services such as the blood and transplant services will vote on possible strike action. As the ballots will close before Christmas, workers could walk out as early as January 2023.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Unite members are now fighting for the very existence of the NHS itself. Crushing staff shortages mean patients’ lives are now at risk. Twelve years of senseless cuts have driven workers from our most essential public service."
