It has been confirmed that thousands of ambulance workers and other NHS staff will go on strike in the run-up to Christmas.
Workers parts of the GMB, Unison, and Unite unions will take part in Industrial action in a dispute over pay. Those taking part in the strike also include paramedics, Emergency Care Assistants, and call handlers.
The unions announced that more than 1,500 members will stage a walkout on December 21 and December 28 - a day after members of the Royal College of Nursing will stage their second walkout. According to the union, workers across the ambulance service and some NHS Trusts voted to strive over the "government's imposed" 4 per cent pay award.
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Rachel Harrison, GMB National Secretary, said: “Ambulance workers – like other NHS workers – are on their knees. Demoralised and downtrodden, they’ve faced twelve years of Conservative cuts to the service and their pay packets, fought on the frontline of a global pandemic and now face the worst cost of living crisis in a generation.
“No one in the NHS takes strike action lightly – today shows just how desperate they are. This is as much about unsafe staffing levels and patient safety as it is about pay.
"A third of GMB ambulance workers think delays they’ve been involved with have led to the death of a patient. Something has to change or the service as we know it will collapse.
“GMB calls on the Government to avoid a Winter of NHS strikes by negotiating a pay award that these workers deserve.”
GMB members will strike at the:
- South West Ambulance Service
- South East Coast Ambulance Service
- North West Ambulance Service
- South Central Ambulance Service
- North East Ambulance Service
- East Midlands Ambulance Service
- West Midlands Ambulance Service
- Welsh Ambulance Service
- Yorkshire Ambulance Service
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