NHS ambulance workers announce new strike dates as pay row escalates | strike

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Ambulance workers have announced a series of new strikes including one next month that was already expected to be the biggest day off in NHS history.

All of the new dates announced by Unite in England, Wales and Northern Ireland will coincide with strikes already set by the GMB union, which also represents ambulance staff. Among them is February 6 when up to 40,000 nurses from the Royal College of Nursing go on strike on what is set to be a day of massive disruption to the health service.

There are concerns that services will be disrupted as non-urgent operations are canceled to help emergency departments deal with staff absences.

“This could be the biggest industrial day of work the NHS has ever seen,” Saffron Cordery, interim chief executive of NHS Providers, said before ambulance workers joined the event.

Unite General Secretary Sharon Graham said care will be taken to protect patient safety.

Speaking to the BBC’s Podcast on Political Reasoning, she said: “Nobody wants lives lost. And we’re really careful regardless of the lies … that some ministers have said … that we have the appropriate minimum level of coverage because this is something really important.” For us. But I have to say, lives have been lost now and so something needs to be done.”

Unite ambulance workers will actually go out next Monday as the row with the government remains deadlocked.

In a statement, Graham added: “Rather than act to protect the NHS and negotiate an end to the conflict, the government has shamefully chosen to demonize ambulance workers.

“Ministers are deliberately misleading the public about life and limb cover and who is responsible for excessive deaths. Our members honestly provide life and limb cover on strike days and not unions who fail to provide minimum levels of service.

“It is the government’s disastrous handling of the NHS that has brought it to breaking point, and with crises piling up in crisis the prime minister is seen to be washing his hands of conflict. What a disgrace. What a concession of leadership.”

The newly announced strike will involve Unite members in the North West, North East, East Midlands, West Midlands, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Unite said that as with previous strikes, its representatives will work regionally to agree exceptions to ensure emergency “life and limb” coverage while on the job.

Other exceptions, the union said, will ensure that patients who need life-saving treatment, such as kidney care and cancer treatment, are flown to their appointments.

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A united official, Inai Kassab, said the solution to this dispute is in the hands of the government. This dispute will only be resolved when he has entered into proper negotiations over the current wage dispute.

“The government’s continued attempts to put the can on the road and its talk of one-off payments, or slightly higher wages in the future, are simply not good enough to resolve this dispute.”

Unite gave details of when its members employed by the various ambulance funds would be on strike.

West Midlands: 6 and 17 February and 6 and 20 March. Northeast: February 6 and 20 and March 6 and 20. East Midlands: 6 and 20 February and 6 and 20 March. Wales: 6 and 20 February and 6 and 20 March. Northwest: February 6 and 22, March 6 and March 20. Northern Ireland: January 26, February 16, 17, 23 and 24.

The Department of Health and Social Care said: “Ambulance workers are doing an incredible job and it is disappointing that some union members are pushing ahead with further strikes when the NHS is already under enormous pressure.”

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