Ambulance staff and GMB health workers in Forth Valley vote to strike over pay

GMB Scotland members in the Scottish Ambulance Service gave their support for strike action this week, following a month-long ballot of the union’s members across the country.

The union said 89 per cent of its members in the ambulance service who participated in the ballot backed strikes, along with members in several health boards, including 94 per cent in Forth Valley.

It added that nearly 4000 GMB members, including paramedics, technicians, nurses, porters, domestics, and radiographers, are backing the industrial action.

The NHS appears to be heading towards a winter of discontent with physiotherapy staff from NHS Scotland also voting to take strike action in their first-ever ballot on pay.

It comes after more than 88 per cent of midwives and maternity support workers from the Royal College of Midwives voted to strike last week.

Meanwhile, the Royal College of Nursing is also currently balloting its members over strike action.

The Scottish Government has said “there is no more money on the table” than already offered.

GMB Scotland organiser Karen Leonard said: “This a direct response from our members to the government that more must be done to properly value NHS workers and the services they deliver, not just to confront the cost-of-living crisis this winter, but also to tackle the understaffing crisis in our frontline services that’s left staff utterly exhausted and increasingly angry.

“The understaffing crisis in particular has been understood for years and left unchallenged, only for Covid-19 to expose and exacerbate the chronic shortfalls in staffing levels, and no one should be any doubt the only way we can recruit and retain the people needed to kick-start a recovery is to value staff better.

“There should be no surprise in government circles about this clear mandate delivered by our members; their strike threat is the inevitable consequence of years of austerity and managed decline in our NHS by political leaders and the unsustainable pressures this has placed on a workforce that everyone depends on.

“But this is also an opportunity for Humza Yousaf to listen to the workers’ voice and bring forward the significantly improved offer that he promised just a few weeks ago, otherwise the country faces the real prospect of strike actions this winter across NHS Scotland and the ambulance service.”

A spokesperson for the Scottish Ambulance Service said: “Our staff do an incredible job, often in very challenging circumstances. We would encourage continued engagement so that a suitable resolution can be found.

"Meanwhile, discussions with our staff-side representatives continue, including possible contingency arrangements to ensure vital patient care is maintained.”