Ambulance staff across across England and Wales will go on Strike for 12 hours on the 21st of December. It comes as Royal College of Nursing members are also preparing to go on strike on 15 and 20 December.
The strike will be in effect from 6am until Midnight on December 21, and for 24 hours from Midnight on the 28th of December.
The walkouts will involve Paramedics, Emergency Care Assistants, call handlers and other staff, with the military on standby to help out if required.
The union said its representatives will now meet with individual trusts to discuss requirements for “life and limb cover” on the two confirmed dates.
Rachel Harrison, GMB 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.
“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.”
