The Scottish Ambulance Service have confirmed the date hundreds of their staff will strike in a dispute over pay.
The GMB Union confirmed that the SAS have set dates for a strike this month after 89 per cent of their members who balloted backed the decision.
Strikes are set to begin from 6am on 28 November and run to 7:59am 29 November, with urgent meetings now taking place with officials to ensure appropriate staffing levels for critical care are still in place.
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The strike will be the first in around thirty years from the SAS, as similar action is also taken by the nursing sector, teachers, rail workers and other industries.
Speaking about the decision, GMB Scotland Organiser, Karen Leonard said: “Staff in the Scottish Ambulance Service have worked throughout the depths of the pandemic on the frontline of our public services, all the while dealing with an understaffing crisis and now a cost-of-living crisis this winter.
"These strikes are a direct response to the Scottish Government who have failed to give key, frontline workers the pay rise that they deserve and who have overseen years of managed decline in the health services that so many rely on.
“Staff are rightly angry with how they’re being treated. They have been overlooked, overworked, undervalued and underpaid. The workforce is being expected to fill more and more gaps in service provision. With the current offer being well below inflation, that means they’re being expected to do more for less.
“This isn’t sustainable for our members, for those receiving care, or for a health service that’s supposed to be fit for the 21 st century. You can’t have a world class health service without recruiting and retaining high quality staff with the skills to care for people.
“GMB Scotland has warned of the managed decline of health services for years, but concerns have been consistently ignored. The pandemic just exposed the holes in the health service and the incredible pressures staff are facing. That will get worse if increased investment isn’t made and staff’s wages don’t reflect their value of the work they do."
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