Ambulance staff strikes are ‘a last resort’, says union
WORKERS ON PICKET LINES IN PAY DISPUTE
AMBULANCE staff have once again joined the picket lines calling for better pay and conditions.
Staff turned out for the third time in five weeks at Ridgeway, in Coulby Newham, yesterday after unions accused the Government of not wanting to find a resolution to what has become an escalating and bitter dispute over pay.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said a double-digit pay rise must be offered to striking NHS staff, but described the Government as appearing willing to “talk about anything, but they won’t talk about pay”.
Supporting NHS staff on the picket lines on Teesside was Unison regional organiser Miles Elliott.
Mr Elliott called for the Government to come forward with a financial package to address issues.
He said: “Ambulance workers are out on strike across the region and across the country today to ask for fair pay. They’ve had their pay cut in real terms for many years now.
“We’d like them [Government] to sit down with Unison and the other trade unions, to acknowledge the issues that our members and patients and the public see.
“The NHS needs more staff and wages.”
When asked about the impact on patient safety the strikes are having he said: “Every single ambulance worker on strike today are doing it as a last resort.
“None of them want to take strike action and they’re doing it in part because every single day they’re seeing patient safety being jeopardised by the way this Government is running the NHS.”
It comes after Unison head of health Sara Gorton said Chancellor Jeremy Hunt had worked with the union before, to resolve the last pay dispute, and had talked about investing in the NHS workforce when he was chair of the health select committee of the Commons.
Speaking at Leeds ambulance station, she said: “Just a few short months ago in that role, he was writing reports and talking about the importance of investing in the health workforce.
“So, it would be great if he could use that experience and bring those lessons to bear in this dispute. Nobody wants to see this escalating.”
Ms Gorton said: “It feels like we’re moving from a crisis to a workforce emergency. Until we can work together to find a way to stop people leaving jobs in the NHS, it’s just going to get worse.”
Asked about patient safety as paramedics strike, Ms Gorton said: “It feels like a cheap trick pretending that it’s the industrial action that is causing patient care problems.
“These people, they work in the service, they use the service, their families depend on it.
“So, they know better than anybody else the impact that strikes have, but they can no longer put up with the daily compromises that they are having to deliver 365 days a year.”