AMBULANCE workers have announced the details of their planned strikes later in December, following a vote for industrial action.
Members of the GMB union have announced that Wednesday, December 21, and Wednesday, December 28, will be the dates that ambulance workers will walk out.
The action includes three NHS trusts across the south coast, including South Central Ambulance Service, which covers Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, and Hampshire.
Paramedics, Emergency Care Assistants, call handlers, and other staff will walk out from 6am-6pm on Wednesday, December 21, and for 24 hours 28 December.
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.”
Despite a focus on pay in some coverage, she says that pay is not the only issue that staff are concerned about.
“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.”
More than 10,000 staff across England are set to walk out over the Christmas period, joined by more than 100,000 members of the Royal College of Nursing, who are striking on December 15 and 20.
It is the latest announcement of public sector strikes following a number of strike periods announced by unions, with rail workers, postal workers, and teachers also voting for industrial action in the coming months.
