GMB has announced that its members working as paramedics, emergency care assistants, call handlers and other staff are set to walk out in a number of trusts, including those in the North East Ambulance Service.
More than 10,000 ambulance workers across England and Wales have voted to strike across nine trusts, following suit from NHS nurses who are also set to hold bouts of industrial action in the run in to Christmas.
Other ambulance trusts participating include: South West Ambulance Service, South East Coast Ambulance Service, North West Ambulance Service, South Central Ambulance Service, East Midlands Ambulance Service, West Midlands Ambulance Service, Welsh Ambulance Service and Yorkshire Ambulance Service.
Read more: Newcastle, Gateshead and Northumbria NHS trust nurses set to strike just days before Christmas
The PA News Agency reports that GMB said workers across the ambulance services and some NHS trusts have voted to strike over the Government’s miniscule 4 per cent pay award - which has been dubbed as a “massive real-terms pay cut”. The union is set to in-turn meet with reps in the coming days to discuss potential strike dates as Christmas approaches.
Karen O’Brien, director of people and development at North East Ambulance Service, said: “Although NHS pay is a matter for the Government and the trade unions, we recognise this is a very difficult time for everyone, including our colleagues. Whilst we have no role in negotiating the terms at the heart of the dispute, we need to ensure plans are in place to keep critical services running while respecting the right of staff to take industrial action.
“There may be an impact on non-urgent work because of industrial action. We are working closely with our trade union representatives and the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives (AACE) to ensure safe services remain. We recognise this can be a worrying time for our colleagues who work incredibly hard every day to keep our patients safe.
"We value the contribution of all of our staff, regardless of where they work within the organisation. Patient safety is always paramount and plans will be in place to ensure critical services keep running.”
Rachel Harrison, GMB national secretary, said: “Ambulance workers – like other NHS workers – are on their knees. Demoralised and downtrodden, they’ve faced 12 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.”
The announcement comes just after the Royal College of Nursing announced that NHS nurses will be holding days of industrial action on the 15 and 20 of December. The strikes come after an ongoing dispute between NHS staff and Conservative government over pay and working conditions.
On the strikes, Interim chief executive of NHS Providers, Saffron Cordery, said: “Nobody wants to see strikes when the NHS is about to experience what may be its hardest ever winter but we understand how strongly nurses feel and why it has come to this. We urge the Government to act fast and talk to nurses and union leaders to find a way to avert strikes.
“Trusts up and down the country have been planning for industrial action. Not all of them will be affected directly but those that are will do everything in their power to minimise disruption for patients.
“Trust leaders’ priorities are ensuring the safe delivery of care and supporting the wellbeing of staff who continue to work flat out in the face of below-inflation pay awards, severe staff shortages and ever-increasing workloads.”
Read next:
- NHS nurses announce strikes just days before Christmas in dispute over pay
- Warning as drinking coffee before breakfast could harm your health
- North East public health is 'way behind' the rest of the UK - new NHS bosses issue 'call to action' after shocking report
- How thousands of your Covid samples have helped develop new test for the virus in Newcastle
- 'I gave blood for the first time - it was so easy I can't believe I haven't done it before'
