NHS Strikes: Wales ambulance workers vote for industrial action

Around 1,000 Welsh Ambulance Service workers have voted to take industrial action, Unite said today.

The workers, including paramedics, EMTs and emergency call handling staff, voted by 88% to strike, the union said.

Strike dates will be announced early next year by the union.

Niall Allen and Hannah Bull have been paramedics for four years and say they've been left feeling 'disheartened'.

Members of the GMB union took part in a strike this week, which saw 1,500 paramedics, emergency medical technicians, and call handlers walk out in a dispute over pay and working conditions.

Nurses have also been on strike this week, again over pay and working conditions.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: "Unite's ambulance service members in Wales are striking because they see first-hand every day how the NHS is collapsing. They are dedicated life-saving professionals and are taking this step because they know the NHS itself needs saving.

"The Welsh Government must put a better offer on the table to help resolve the recruitment and retention crisis that is crippling the service. But it is also incumbent on the Conservative Government in Westminster, who hold the ultimate responsibility for the years of destruction inflicted on the NHS, to meet with health unions and urgently address staffing and pay levels."

Doctors in Wales could also go on strike for the first time ever after a survey from the British Medical Association found the majority would consider taking action.

Around two-thirds of hospital doctors surveyed by the union this month said they would be willing to take some form of industrial action, including strikes, over their current pay and conditions.

A Welsh Government spokesperson said: “We understand the strength of feeling among doctors about the pay offer and the pressures all public sector workers are under due to the cost-of-living crisis.

“We will continue to work to bring together trade unions, employers and government to deliver the best possible outcomes for workers, while continuing to call on the UK Government to use the funding it has to provide a fair pay offer to NHS staff and enable us to do the same in Wales.”