Almost 3,500 ambulance workers have voted to strike – and it could be before Christmas.
Staff from South East Coast Ambulance Service say the government’s imposed four per cent pay award which they say is a “massive real terms pay cut”.
Paramedics, emergency care assistants, call handlers and other staff are now set to walk out.
GMB representatives will now meet with representatives in the coming days to discuss potential strike days before Christmas.
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 West Ambulance Service and South Central Ambulance Service staff are joining Secamb staff for the strike.
Saffron Cordery, interim chief executive of NHS Providers, said NHS trusts would do all they could to mitigate risks to patients but the health service was already experiencing a challenging time.
Ms Cordery told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme “there’s going to be an incredibly testing time ahead this winter” when nurses and ambulance workers go on strike”.
She added: “What we can say is that trust leaders up and down the country have tried and tested plans in place to mitigate the risks of these strikes, and they really understand the situation that NHS staff are in, in terms of receiving a below inflation pay award, and the real pressures and stresses that they’ve been working under.”
The Department for Health and Social Care was approached for comment.
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