'Downtrodden' ambulance workers to go on strike over busy Christmas period

NHS workers are set to go on strike over a “real term pay cut” and “unsafe staffing levels”, union leaders said.

The GMB Union announced that 10,000 ambulance workers, paramedics, emergency care assistants and call handlers across nine trusts in England and Wales will strike all day on December 21 and December 28 over a pay rise dispute.

The union said workers had not took the decision to strike lightly but the government’s four per cent pay award was a “massive” real term pay cut amid the cost-of-living crisis.

Rachel Harrison, GMB national secretary, said: “Ambulance workers — like other NHS workers — are on their knees.

“Demoralised and downtrodden, they’ve faced 12 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 — it 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.”

Ms Harrison urged health secretary Steve Barclay to come to the table for discussions to avoid a “winter of NHS strikes”.