Ambulance workers from five regions in England, including London, North East, North West, South West, and Yorkshire, will go on strike on February 10th, according to Unison. This means that there will be strikes in the National Health Service every day next week except for Wednesday. Life-threatening emergency calls will still be attended to, but other calls may not be. The prime minister’s office stated that the public will be concerned about the ongoing industrial action.
A massive day of industrial action is scheduled for February 6th, with many nurses and ambulance personnel from England and Wales going on strike.
The prime minister’s official spokesman stated that they are putting in place measures to reduce the impact of the strikes, but they are urging the unions to reconsider and continue discussions.
Unison is calling for the government to take action to resolve the pay dispute by improving salaries and to stop ignoring the strikes. Unless the government makes a major change in their approach to NHS pay and engages in talks with unions, Unison warned that they will announce further strike dates into March. The government claims that the requested pay raises are not financially feasible.
Pay increases are determined by independent pay review bodies and NHS staff in England and Wales, including nurses, have already received an average raise of 4.75%.
The lowest-paid workers were guaranteed an increase of at least £1,400. However, the Department of Health and Social Care failed to submit evidence for next year’s pay award for over a million NHS workers, which has shocked the former health minister and now chair of the House of Commons’ Health and Social Care Committee, Steve Brine. The Treasury has submitted the required evidence.
