Ambulance strikes off following offer of talks
UNIONS CANCEL WALKOUTS DUE THIS WEEK
AMBULANCE staff walkouts planned for Tuesday and Wednesday this week have been postponed.
Unions GMB and Unison have called off the industrial action to enter negotiations.
It would have been the first time members of Unison took part since the action began in December, after achieving a mandate to strike at Emas.
Unite, which has fewer than 15 members at East Midlands Ambulance Service (Emas), had planned to go ahead with industrial action on Monday, but called this off on Sunday.
Emas said it was “standing down” arrangements to respond to strikes this week, including bringing in military support.
GMB said the Department of
Health and Social Care had agreed to discuss pay for both this year and next.
National secretary Rachel Harrison said: “GMB ambulance workers announced a tightening of the derogations for cover on strike days.
“Less than 24 hours later we received a letter from the Secretary of State for Health, Steve Barclay, inviting us and other unions to pay talks.
“This is a huge shift from the government, which for months has refused to consider negotiations on pay.
“Now they are saying they are willing to sit down and talk.
“The government has given assurances of additional cash for both years above existing budgets and that any deal will respect the existing Agenda for Change structure.
“GMB’s ambulance workers have agreed to suspend industrial action so talks can begin.
“However, the strike will return with a vengeance should talks break down.”
The pay dispute has led to a series of walkouts since December.
The last strike dates, last month, saw almost half of the Emas workforce walk out. Staff said they were striking over conditions as well as pay, and fighting to protect the NHS.
A spokesman for Emas said: “We are grateful to our colleagues, both on and off the picket lines and in the trade unions, for their professionalism and collaboration throughout industrial action, to ensure we could continue to respond to patients in need of an emergency response.
“We will continue to work with trade union colleagues closely to keep patients safe in any future periods of industrial action and continue to fully respect the right of NHS staff to take lawful and peaceful action.”