GMB union announces four further days of ambulance strikes in ongoing pay row

18 January 2023, 16:34

Over 10,000 ambulance workers will stage further industrial action in February and March, the GMB union has announced, in an ongoing dispute over jobs, pay, and conditions.

Members of the GMB union who are paramedics, emergency care assistants, call handlers and other ambulance staff are set to stage industrial action on February 6 and 20, and March 6 and 20.

West Midlands ambulance service workers will also walk off the job on January 23, while North West Ambulance Service will walkout on 24 January.

The dates were announced after negotiations with ministers broke down.

GMB said their members were "angry" and "are done".

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Its members voted against the 4 percent pay rise offered by the government, calling it "another massive real terms pay cut".

GMB national secretary Rachel Harrison said the union's message to the government was "talk pay now".

"Ministers have made things worse by demonising the ambulance workers who provided life and limb cover on strike days - playing political games with their scaremongering," she said.

"The only way to solve this dispute is a proper pay offer. But it seems the cold, dead hands of Number 10 and 11 Downing Street are stopping this from happening.

"In the face of government inaction, we are left with no choice but industrial action.

"GMB ambulance workers are determined, they're not going to back down. It's up to this government to get serious on pay. We are waiting."

The strike action will take place in these services:

• South West
• South East
• North West
• South Central
• North East
• East Midlands
• Welsh
• Yorkshire.

The Unite union, which represents 100,000 NHS workers, is also expected to announce more ambulance strikes as the union accuses the government of refusing to negotiate on "fair pay" for this current financial year.

The union said its ambulance committee is meeting later today to set out new strike dates that will then be put to members to confirm.

Ambulance workers with the union had already announced walkouts in Wales on Thursday and next Monday.

About 25,000 ambulance workers across England and Wales staged industrial action on January 11.