COVENTRY, UK – December 21, 2022: Unite union general secretary Sharon Graham (centre) joins paramedics on the picket line outside Ambulance Headquarters in Coventry. On Friday January 20, Unite announced 10 more days of strike action as a dispute between the government and the ambulance escalated.
Jacob King/PA Images via Getty Images
LONDON — One of the UK’s biggest unions on Friday announced 10 more days of strike action over the next few weeks as the clash between the government and paramedics escalates.
More than 2,600 paramedics from Wales and the West Midlands, North West, North East and East Midlands of England are already set to be discharged on Monday in an ongoing dispute over the compensation and staffing.
The newly announced strikes will affect the North West (February 6, 22 and March 20), North East (February 6, 20 and March 6, 20), East Midlands (February 6, 20 and March 6, 20), West Midlands (February 6, 17 and March 6, 20), Wales (February 6, 20 and March 6, 20) and Northern Ireland (January 26 and February 16, 17, 23 and 24).
Further ballots are currently being held at four other ambulance trusts which could potentially join the dispute later next month, the union said.
“Rather than act to protect the NHS and negotiate an end to the conflict, the government has shamefully chosen to demonize paramedics. Ministers deliberately mislead the public about life and limb coverage and who is responsible for the excess deaths,” Unite General Secretary Sharon Graham said.
“Our members faithfully provide life and limb on strike days and it is not the unions that are failing to provide minimum levels of service: it is this government’s disastrous management of the NHS that has brought it to the breaking point.”
The union said its representatives will work regionally to ensure that emergency life and membership cover will be available during strikes, while patients in need of life-saving treatment will still be transported to appointments. you.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government has introduced controversial anti-strike legislation to “enforce minimum service levels” in key public services, in a move unions have blasted as an attack on workers’ rights.
The legislation would force some employees to work during a strike. Government ministers have publicly accused paramedics of endangering lives by carrying out industrial action, prompting a widespread backlash from trade unions and political opponents.
Onay Kasab, Unite National’s senior officer, said a resolution was “in the hands of the government” and the dispute would only end when UK leaders began “appropriate negotiations” over wages.
“The government’s constant attempts to get the box on the road and its talk of one-time payments, or slightly increased salary increases in the future, are simply not enough to resolve this dispute,” Kasab said.
Members of the Royal College of Nursing and paramedics, who are part of the GMB union, are also on strike on February 6. The GMB has scheduled new actions for February 20, March 6 and March 20.
