Ambulance staff in Perth and Kinross are set to join colleagues across Scotland in strike action on November 28 - the first of its kind in over three decades.
About 1800 members of the GMB union will walk out from 6am on that date over a pay dispute, prompting concerns the Army will be called in to take the sick and injured to hospitals.
The Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) staff walkouts will run until 7.59am the following day and includes advanced practitioners, paramedics, planners, administrative, clerical, real time analysts and business intelligence staff.
As well as call-outs, patient transport to clinics and appointments will also be hit by the strike – although the union has vowed members will be on hand to attend life-threatening emergencies.
The move comes amid a wave of national strikes, with hospital staff, teachers, rail and postal workers also planning winter walkouts.
Nurses and teachers have also voted for strike action as they bid for improved pay offers.
Now the SNP Government and health secretary Humza Yousaf have been urged to get round the table with ambulance staff to avert a strike or face a health emergency.
It comes after 89 per cent of GMB members who voted backed industrial action following the most recent pay rise offer of £2205 across the board – for some less than the five per cent originally on the table.
A second health union, Unite, also confirmed its 1500 ambulance workers would begin a period of industrial action short of a strike on November 25.
It will include an overtime ban.
The GMB is seeking urgent meetings with SAS bosses to ensure appropriate staffing levels for critical care on the day of the strike.
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.
“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.”
She added: “Humza Yousaf has been warned of strike action in health services. But since GMB’s members announced their mandate for strike, he has done nothing to prevent it.
“He has failed to come back with the significantly improved offer he promised. He has put off meeting with our members to discuss an offer. He has been totally missing.”
Scottish Labour health spokeswoman Jackie Baillie said a contingency plan is needed to “avoid disaster” and that the Scottish Government “must consider” calling in the Army as cover.
Mr Yousaf said he was committed to avoiding strikes.
He added: “Pay negotiations take place collectively through the Scottish Terms and Conditions Committee and it is right and proper that they continue to do so.
“I have contacted trade unions this week to reaffirm my commitment to ongoing discussions and dialogue.
“The safety of patients is our top priority and while we will do everything possible to avoid strike action we are working with boards to put detailed contingency plans in place.”
