‘Overworked, undervalued and underpaid’: Ambulance workers announce dates for strike action

Ambulance workers have announced dates for planned industrial action this month in a dispute over “unfair” pay.

GMB Scotland’s members in the ambulance service will walk out at 6am on November 28, with strikes expected to run across the country until 7.59am the following day.

It comes after 89% of the union’s members who participated in the ballot backed industrial action.

Urgent meetings are currently being sought with ambulance service bosses to ensure appropriate staffing levels for critical care are in place during that period.

Yesterday, teachers also announced they will be holding strikes later this month, prompting massive disruption with thousands of educators expected to walk out.

‘Staff are rightly angry with how they are being treated’

GMB Scotland organiser Karen Leonard said the strike action is a “direct response” to the Scottish Government’s failure to give frontline workers the pay that they deserve.

Highlighting their work throughout the pandemic, she said ambulance staff are facing “incredible” pressure, dealing with an understaffing crisis and now a cost-of-living crisis.

“Staff are rightly angry with how they are being treated,” she said. “They have been overlooked, overworked, undervalued and underpaid.

“The workforce is being expected to fill more and more gaps in service provision. With the current offer being well below inflation, that means they’re being expected to do more for less.

“This isn’t sustainable for our members, for those receiving care, or for a health service that’s supposed to be fit for the 21st century.”

Strike action is ‘inevitable’

Ms Leonard added the pandemic has only exposed the holes in the health service, which has been “in decline for years” – with concerns “constantly being ignored”.

She fears this will get worse if the government doesn’t invest more in the NHS and increase staff wages so that they reflect the value of the work they do.

Earlier this month health workers rejected the latest offer made by NHS Scotland, which represented a 7% rise for health staff on average.

Ms Leonard said this month’s strike action was “inevitable”, putting the blame on Health Secretary Humza Yousaf, who “has done nothing to prevent it going ahead”.

She said: “He has failed to come back with the significantly improved offer he promised. He has put off meeting with our members to discuss an offer. He has been totally missing.

“Humza Yousaf can’t stick his fingers in his ears and hope workers will go away. He has to meet with them.

“After what they’ve been through, health workers are tired of warm words. Without a significantly improved offer, strike action is inevitable.”