Ambulance strike Sheffield: Almost 1,500 Yorkshire ambulance workers set to walk out this Christmas over pay

The GMB trade union said almost 1,500 ambulance workers across Yorkshire would walk out on Wednesday, December 21 and Wednesday, December 28, from 12.01am until 11.59pm each day. It said ‘demoralised and downtrodden’ paramedics, emergency care assistants, call handlers and other staff were taking industrial action as they faced ‘another massive real terms pay cut’. GMB said representatives would now meet with Yorkshire Ambulance Service to discuss requirements for ‘life and limb cover’.

The union said workers across the ambulance services and some NHS trusts had voted to strike over the four per cent pay award by the Government, which is well below inflation. It said more than 10,000 ambulance workers across nine trusts in England and Wales would join the walkouts.

Rachel Harrison, GMB’s national secretary, said: “Ambulance workers – like other NHS workers – are on their knees. Demoralised and downtrodden, they’ve faced twelve years Conservative cuts to the service and their pay packets, fought on the frontline of a global pandemic and now face the worst cost of living crisis in a generation.

“No one in the NHS takes strike action lightly – today shows just how desperate they are. This is as much about unsafe staffing levels and patient safety as it is about pay. A third of GMB ambulance workers think delays they’ve been involved with have led to the death of a patient.”

She added: “Something has to change or the service as we know it will collapse. GMB calls on the Government to avoid a winter of NHS strikes by negotiating a pay award that these workers deserve.”

The Star has contacted the Department of Health and Social Care, and Yorkshire Ambulance Service to ask how they expect services to be affected by the strike action.