Unions Unite in Strike Action Dates
Unite joins GMB in calling Welsh strikes for 6 and 7 February and March
Unions representing ambulance workers across Wales will stage co-ordinated strike action over the next two months.
Unite has announced its members will walk out on both the 6th and 20th of February and March over pay and working conditions.
They will join workers from the GMB union, who will be walking out on the same days.
The announcement of fresh strike comes ahead of the latest day of industrial action with Unite’s ambulance workers set to walk out next Monday (23 January).
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Rather than act to protect the NHS and negotiate an end to the dispute, the government has disgracefully chosen to demonise ambulance workers. Ministers are deliberately misleading the public about the life and limb cover and who is to blame for excessive deaths.
“Our members faithfully provide life and limb cover on strike days and it’s not the unions who are not providing minimum service levels: It’s this government’s disastrous handling of the NHS that has brought it to breaking point. And as crisis piles on crisis, the prime minister is seen to be ‘washing his hands’ of the dispute. What a disgrace. What an abdication of leadership.”
Unite national lead officer Onay Kasab said: “The resolution to this dispute is in the government’s hands. This dispute will only be resolved when it enters into proper negotiations about the current pay dispute.
“The government’s constant attempts to kick the can down the road and its talk about one off payments, or slightly increased pay awards in the future, is simply not sufficient to resolve this dispute.”