Paramedics on the picket lines outside of ambulance stations around the North East slammed the Government for "digging its head in the sand" and refusing to negotiate on pay.
Striking workers from the ambulance service told ChronicleLive how they had been raising issues of pay, safe staffing and the need for Government action to safeguard the NHS for many years. Members of staff from North East Ambulance Service have been taking part in walkouts across the region's ambulance stations with members of the UNISON, GMB and Unite unions striking.
The strikes are in response to the Government's 2022 pay offer which would see workers get flat increase of £1,400 under the NHS Agenda for Change pay structure. Under the offer, most ambulance staff get a rise of around 4%, the Department for Health and Social Care says, but the Unite, GMB and Unison trade unions say that is a real terms pay cut, with inflation at 10.7%.
