NHS ambulance workers are set to return to the strike line again, with four more strike dates announced today.
Union GMB has announced around 10,000 of its members, including paramedics, and 999 on-call workers will retire on February 6, February 20, March 6 and 20.
The action will affect most of the emergency services in England and will also take place across Wales.
It is the latest blow in a bitter row between NHS unions and the government over pay, with the Royal College of Nursing holding its own strike action today and tomorrow.
The Royal College of Nursing is carrying out the above wage strikes today and tomorrow and 6 and 7 February. It joins Unison on 23 January in five ambulances. The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy is also engaged in strike action on 26 January and 9 February
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Members of the RCN at the statue of Florence Nightingale on the poster line at the Florence Nightingale Community Hospital in Derby
Rachel Harrison, national secretary of the GMB, said: “The GMB ambulance staff are furious. In their own words “they are ready”.
Our message to the government is clear: speak now, pay. Ministers made matters worse by demonizing the paramedics who covered life and limb on strike days – playing political games with their scare tactics.
“The only way to resolve this dispute is with a reasonable wage offer.”
“But the cold, dead hands of numbers 10 and 11 Downing Street seem to prevent that.”
She added that the union was forced into industrial action despite the government’s “indolence”.
“GMB ambulance workers are determined, they will not back down,” she said.
“It is up to this government to pay seriously. We are waiting.’
The full list of services for the February and March strike dates include 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, the Welsh Ambulance Service and The Yorkshire Ambulance Service.
In addition, staff from the West Midlands Ambulance Service will strike on 23 January and GMB members from North West Ambulance Service on 24 January.
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Crystal Leahy is an author and health journalist who writes for The Fashion Vibes. With a background in health and wellness, Crystal has a passion for helping people live their best lives through healthy habits and lifestyles.
