London Ambulance Service staff to vote on strike action over pay row
10 October 2022, 23:25
London Ambulance Service (LAS) workers are set to vote on whether to strike amid an ongoing pay row.
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The GMB union said it will launch a formal industrial ballot with dates to be announced in coming days.
It follows a consultative ballot which saw almost 92 per cent of LAS members who voted say they were in favour of a walk out.
More than 1,500 paramedics and ambulance workers are said to be angry over the Government's 4 per cent pay award, which leaves them facing another real terms pay cut.
The union also announced a formal strike ballot in Yorkshire, North East, West and East Midlands, North West and East of England Ambulance Services.
Read more: Nurses start voting on whether to strike after record-breaking numbers leave the profession
Lola McEvoy, GMB Organiser, said: "GMB members in the ambulance service have been forced to take a stand in order to protect patient care.
"Dedicated ambulance workers are leaving trusts in droves, because the workload pressure is too much and the pay is too poor.
"Those left behind are fighting to protect themselves, their colleagues and the future of the NHS.
"They do not take industrial action lightly and it's always a last resort – but things can’t go on like this; something has to give."
A mass NHS walkout is expected in coming weeks as both nurses and midwives have also been voting for industrial action.
Around 300,000 members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) are being asked if they want to push-forward with industrial action in the union’s first UK-wide ballot.
The RCN said new analysis by London Economics to coincide with the ballot launch showed that pay for nurses has declined at twice the rate of the private sector in the last decade.
Meanwhile, the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) is urging its members in England and Wales to vote in favour of industrial action when a four-week ballot period begins in November.
A ballot in Scotland has already begun.
