AMBULANCE workers in Berkshire are set to strike following a vote among GMB Union members.
Nine trusts across the UK are set to strike, including South Central Ambulance Service, which serves Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, and Hampshire.
Paramedics, emergency care assistants, call handlers, and other staff are now set to walk out in industrial action.
Workers are set to meet with union representatives in the coming days to negotiate potential dates for industrial action.
The strike is in response to the government’s proposal of a 4% pay award, which constitutes a real-terms pay cut, as well as safety concerns connected with delays in the service.
Rachel Harrison, GMB National Secretary, said: “Ambulance workers – like other NHS workers – are on their knees.
“Demoralised and downtrodden, they’ve faced twelve years 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.”
South Central Ambulance Service has been contacted for comment.
