Ambulance workers are gearing up to go on another strike due to a continuing dispute over pay and staffing.
Union Unite said its ambulance members will stage a walkout on January 23. It added that it will work with local trusts to ensure life and limb emergency cover.
More than 2,600 ambulance workers across the West Midlands, North West, North East, East Midlands, and Wales will take part in the strike. The union highlighted that the strike marks an escalation in the dispute as more workers will take action than during the last strike.
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Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Unite’s ambulance workers have been left with no option but to take industrial action. They are fighting to protect patients, to save the ambulance service and the NHS itself, as well as providing for their families.
“The Government has had months to intervene and end this dispute but has failed to do so. They choose to attack NHS workers rather than get more money for the NHS from profiteering companies. They repeatedly refuse to sit down and negotiate in order to resolve the dispute.
“The talks the Government has lined up for Monday yet again look like nothing more than a smokescreen and are clearly not a negotiation on NHS pay. But this is real and urgent. NHS staff need their bills paying now.
"Vital health workers are leaving the service now. Patients are suffering and dying now. The Prime Minister needs to step up to the moment and lead. That is what he is paid for.”
Unite national lead officer Onay Kasab said: “The Government has repeatedly missed open goals to resolve this dispute. Unions have been invited to talk and then told they can’t talk about pay, in a pay dispute.
“The Government must get its head out of the sand and finally enter into serious negotiations about pay in order to avert further industrial action. The general public must be as mystified as our ambulance workers as to why the Government is not moving heaven and earth to solve this dispute.”
Similar to the previous strike, Unite's representatives will be working at a local level to agree on derogations to ensure that emergency cover remains in place during the strike. The 24-hour strike will take place 00:01 until 23:59 in Wales, the North West, North East, and East Midlands.
Meanwhile, the West Midlands strike will be for 12 hours from 06:00 to 18:00. Meanwhile, Unite members employed by the Welsh Ambulance Service will also stage industrial action on January 19.
Ambulance workers that are part of Unison will also go on strike on January 23. Unison and the GMB will also hold a joint ambulance strike next Wednesday.
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