Strike action

Ambulance strike dates, next taking place on 11th and 23rd January, continue to share the headlines with various unions amid unprecedented strike action by both nurses and ambulance workers. Readers will understand the difficulty in making the decision to vote in favour of strike action, brought about by a complex mixture of factors including a significant real-terms pay cut and poor working conditions that are making it difficult for staff to effectively carry out their jobs.

Stuart Richards, a senior organiser of the GMB union, which has almost 3000 paramedics and ambulance worker members balloted on strike action across the East and West Midlands ambulance service noted: ‘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. We now face the first ambulance strike in 40 years, and it's a damning indictment of leadership.’ (British Medical Journal, 2022).