More than 15,000 ambulance workers will vote to strike

NHS workers other unions, including nurses, are also being asked if they want to take strike over pay.

Ambulance workers from the following trusts will take part in the GMB vote:

• East of England Ambulance Service
• East Midlands Ambulance Service
• London Ambulance Service
• North East Ambulance Service
• North West Ambulance Service
• South Central Ambulance Service
• South East Coast Ambulance Service
• South West Ambulance Service
• Welsh Ambulance Service
• West Midlands Ambulance Service
• Yorkshire Ambulance Service

BREAKING 🚨: GMB votes for emergency workers across the UK 🚑

— GMB Union (@GMB_union) October 17, 2022

The GMB said its members were angered by the government’s 4% bonus, describing it as “another massive cut in real wages”.

Rachel Harrison, acting national secretary of the GMB, said: “Ambulance workers do not do this lightly and this will be the biggest ambulance strike in 30 years.

“But more than 10 years of wage cuts, plus a cost-of-living crisis, means workers can’t make ends meet.

“They are desperate.

“It’s a lot more about patient safety, at least as much about pay.

“Delays of up to 26 hours and 135,000 jobs in the NHS mean a third of GMB ambulance workers believe a delay they have been involved in has led to a death.

“Emergency workers have been telling the government for years that everything is dangerous.

“No one is listening.

“What else can they do?”

A spokesman for the Department of Health and Social Care said: “We value the hard work of NHS staff and are working hard to support them – including by giving more than one million NHS workers a pay rise of at least £1,400 this year.

“Industrial action is a matter for unions and we urge them to carefully consider the potential consequences for patients.”