More than 10,000 ambulance workers have voted to strike over pay

This move increases the threat of widespread industrial action in the NHS before Christmas.

The GMB has explained that its members working as paramedics, emergency care assistants, call handlers and other staff are set to walk out in the following trusts:

• South West Ambulance Service
• South East Coast Ambulance Service
• North West Ambulance Service
• South Central Ambulance Service
• North East Ambulance Service
• East Midlands Ambulance Service
• West Midlands Ambulance Service
• Welsh Ambulance Service
• Yorkshire Ambulance Service

More than 10,000 ambulance workers vote to strike over pay

The GMB also said workers across the ambulance services and some NHS trusts have voted to strike over the Government’s 4% pay award which it described as another “massive real-terms pay cut”.

In the coming days, the union will meet with reps to discuss potential strike dates before Christmas.

NEW: The decision to take action & lose a day’s pay is tough.

But thousands of ambulance staff & NHS colleagues know delays won’t lessen, nor waiting times reduce, until the gov acts on wages.

That’s why they’ve taken the difficult decision to strike.https://t.co/NH9BdOjTps pic.twitter.com/JrQgy4myfp

— Christina McAnea (@cmcanea) November 29, 2022

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 front line 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.”

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