Ambulance service covering Rutland to vote on strike action
The dates of the official vote will be announced this week
Last updated 10th Oct 2022
Almost 2,000 paramedics and ambulance staff in the East Midlands are set to vote on strike action .
If members say yes, it will be the first ambulance crew walkouts in 40 years, organiser the GMB union has said.
NHS workers are angry over the Government’s four per cent pay award, which leaves them facing yet a real terms pay cut when weighed against soaring inflation rates, the union said.
The dates of the vote will be announced in the coming days.
However, the GMB has already held consultative ballots with members from the East Midlands Ambulance Service Trust, (EMAS), to assess the appetite for the strikes.
It said of the almost 2,000 workers asked, 65 per cent had responded to the ballot and 88 per cent of those vote were in favour of the action.
The Government has said it values the work NHS staff do and has urged them to think of the impact on patients.
Stuart Richards, GMB senior organiser, said: “Ambulance workers should be out on the streets trying to save lives – instead they’re worrying about feeding their own families. It’s a national disgrace.
“The Conservatives have been in power for more than 12 years and during that time our ambulance services have crumbled.
“We now face the first ambulance strike in 40 years and it’s a damning indictment of their leadership.
“GMB Union will stand shoulder to shoulder with our members and fight for the above inflation pay rise that our NHS workers deserve.”
Members at West Midlands Ambulance Service, Yorkshire Ambulance Service and North East Ambulance Service are also set to vote on industrial action.
Ambulance crews are not the only members of the NHS workforce weighing up the decision of whether to strike.
Nurses are set to vote on what would be their first ever UK wide walkout, with ballots being sent to 300,000 members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) from Thursday last week (6/10).
RCN general secretary and chief executive Pat Cullen said: “We are understaffed, undervalued and underpaid.
“For years our profession has been pushed to the edge, and now patient safety is paying the price. We can’t stand by and watch our colleagues and patients suffer anymore.
“Though strike action is a last resort, it is a powerful tool for change. And we must demand that change. Enough is enough.”
The Royal College of Midwives (RCM) is also urging members to vote yes to strike action in the ballot, which will open on Friday, November 11. This would be only their second walkout in 140 years, with the first taking place in 2014.
The RCM has said midwives and medical support workers, (MSWs) would not take any type of action that would put women or babies at risk.
The RCM’s executive director Dr Suzanne Tyler said: “Our members feel undervalued, under paid and are now angry that the Government has not listened to them. Many are struggling with the rising cost of living and deeply worried about the future.
“For midwives to consider taking industrial action it is really the last straw, but they feel they have no other option.”
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “We value the hard work of NHS nurses and are working hard to support them – including by giving over 1 million NHS workers, including nurses, a pay rise of at least £1,400 this year, as recommended by the independent NHS Pay Review Body.
“Industrial action is a matter for unions, and we urge them to carefully consider the potential impacts on patients.”