It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
A Rohingya refugee child peeps from his makeshift shanty at Kutupalong refugees camp, in Ukhia on October 6, 2020. (Photo by MUNIR UZ ZAMAN/AFP via Getty Images)
By: Melvin Samuel
Globally one in eight or over one billion people today are migrants with 281 million international migrants and many million individuals who are stateless, according to World Health Organization (WHO).
Climate change, rising inequality, conflicts, trade, and population growth are accelerating these trends, WHO said in a statement. The health workforce has a vital role in providing for the health rights and needs of refugees and migrants. To support countries and territories to build professional competence and capacity to adequately address refugee and migrant health issues, WHO is organizing the third edition of its annual Global School on Refugee and Migrant Health in Dhaka, Bangladesh with a focus on capacity-building.
“Migration and displacement can have deep and long-lasting impacts on physical and mental health and well-being, and cultural and linguistic differences, financial barriers, stigma and discrimination can all hamper access to health services for refugees and migrants,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General.
“Health workers have a crucial role in helping to overcome these barriers. The WHO Global School on Refugee and Migrant Health is a valuable resource for building the capacity of health workers to better serve refugees and migrants.”
While not all refugees and migrants are vulnerable, they are often due to an array of determinants, from xenophobia and discrimination to poor living, housing, and working conditions, and inadequate access to health services that are people-centred and sensitive to refugee and migrant health needs.
“Human right to health is a right that extends to all people everywhere, especially refugees and migrants. Because to be truly respected, protected and fulfilled, a right must be fully enjoyed by the most marginalized and vulnerable – those at risk of or who are already being left behind, which often includes people on the move,” said Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director, WHO South-East Asia addressing the participants.
Held in a different location each year, the Global School aims to leverage the learnings and experiences of countries in close collaboration with WHO and governments.
This year over 7.1 million Bangladeshis were displaced by climate change a number that could reach 13.3 million by 2050.
UK
Suella Braverman's migrants speech like Rivers of Blood, says senior Met officer
Neil Basu says language used by Home Secretary reminded him of Enoch Powell and the abuse his parents suffered in the 60s
Neil Basu, the UK’s former head of counter terrorism, described the Home Secretary’s choice of language on the asylum issue as “inexplicable” and “horrific”.
Ms Braverman came in for criticism when she told the Telegraph she dreamed of sending migrants to Rwanda and also when she described the current crisis as an “invasion”
In an interview ahead of his retirement from the Metropolitan Police, Mr Basu, whose father came to the UK from India in the 1960s, said such language reminded him of the racism his family endured following Powell’s inflammatory speech.
He told Channel 4 News: “I find some of the commentary coming out of the Home Office inexplicable. It is unbelievable to hear a succession of very powerful politicians who look like this, talking in language that my father would have remembered from the 1968. It's horrific.”
Mr Basu - whose father was a doctor who moved to Britain from Calcutta, and whose mother was a nurse from Wales - grew up in Stafford where he was regularly the target of racist abuse.
He described how after Powell’s speech, his parents had stones thrown at them by racists as they walked down the street.
He said: “I was born in 1968. The ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech happened on the constituency next to where my parents lived and made their life hell. A mixed-race couple walking through the streets in the 1960s. Stoned.” He added: “I speak about race because I know something about race because I'm a 54-year-old mixed race man.” Ms Braverman, whose own parents came to Britain in the 1960s from Mauritius and Kenya, has been criticised for her rhetoric on the migrant crisis, but has expressed her determination to tackle the issue.
On Tuesday, a Home Office spokesman said the Home Secretary was very clear about the need to “manage our borders effectively and have an asylum system that works for those in genuine need”.
Mr Basu said he was happy to describe himself as 'woke'
CREDIT: PA
Mr Basu was the country’s head of counter terrorism policing between 2018 and 2021 but missed out on becoming Commissioner and also on being appointed head of the National Crime Agency after clashing with No 10 and Priti Patel, the former home secretary.
One flashpoint came when Mr Basu urged the Home Office to consider relaxing the rules on positive discrimination in order to increase the number of black and ethnic minority police officers. Mr Basu suggested his progress in policing had been blocked by the Government because he had been outspoken on issues of race and diversity.
But he said he was proud to describe himself as “woke”, defining it as "being alert to issues of racial and social injustice".
“If that is the definition of woke, I'll wear it as a bumper sticker every day of the week. And by the way, every serving police officer, let alone a chief constable, better believe that too." he said.
“We serve all of the public without fear or favour, regardless of who they look like, not just the people we like.”
Mr Basu said diversity and inclusion were two of the most important things for modern policing adding that there should be “zero tolerance” of prejudice in the Met.
Asked whether thousands of police officers needed to be rooted out of the Met, Mr Basu replied: “Yes, I think that's correct. If you're a police officer watching this and you are - like the vast majority of police officers - a good person who wants to do the right thing, then you have to be the person who doesn't walk by when you see that kind of behaviour.”
The focus of this project is on both the nature and consequences, for India, of the Indian Mutiny of 1857. Classic British historians have offered a clear simplistic view that events should be classed as a Mutiny. However, I focus on the debate between the Indian historians that emerged in the twentieth century. I conclude that the events of 1857 must be characterised initially as a military Mutiny, but later as a collective conservative rebellion for the protection of religion, and the rejection of British rule. I go on to discuss the short term effects, looking at the social and military reform undertaken by the British, which represents how their attitudes to the culture and native peoples of India was shifted by the uprising against British rule. This shift moves away from legislative reforms imposed from above, to focus on shifting young Indian’s attitudes gradually and naturally, through Victorian style education. Furthermore I discuss the short term reorganisation of the Indian militaries, and how the events in 1857 led to the development of a material race ideology. Lastly, I discuss how the Rebellion, and its consequences led to a national sentiment developing, which leads to the onset of the early Independence Movement.
'This is just heartbreaking': People shocked at the image of three migrants discovered on ship's rudder
Abhya Adlakha ·Editor, Yahoo News Canada Wed, November 30, 2022 The Spanish coast guard rescued three African migrants found sitting on the rudder of the ship in the Canary Islands. SALVAMENTO MARÍTIMO via Twitter
The image of three men discovered balancing on the rudder of a ship for 11 days across the ocean from Nigeria to the Canary Islands has left people in shock.
The three men were picked up Monday by Spain's Maritime Rescue Services from the rudder of the Alithini II ship. After displaying acute symptoms of disorientation, dehydration and hypothermia, they were all taken to a hospital on the island of Gran Canaria.
Two of the stowaways have been helped and put back on a ship to be deported to Nigeria. A local government spokesperson said that the third person is still recovering in a hospital. A law enforcement spokesperson told Reuters that the law in Spain states that if a stowaway doesn’t seek asylum, they have to be sent back to the original port by whomever runs the ship.
The amount of people coming to the Canary Islands from the western region of Africa has skyrocketed over the past few years—with many undertaking similar dangerous journeys.
People reacted to the news and are left astounded that the three men were able to survive on a rudder without food or water for 11 days.
While some commented on the determination of migrants, others pointed out the horrific conditions that are forcing migrants to take such journeys.
Bats use the same techniques as death metal singers or the throat singing from vocalists in Mongolia and Siberia to vocalize,study finds
By Zoe Sottile, CNN Tue November 29, 2022 A Daubenton's bat, scientifically named Myotis daubentonii, hunts at night.
Johan De Meester/Universal Images Group/Getty Images Death metal fans might just have a new animal mascot.
Some bats use the same vocal structures as death metal singers to make their unique vocalizations, a new study has found.
Researchers at the University of Southern Denmark investigated the noise-making techniques of Daubenton’s bat, a small species of the winged mammal found across Europe and Asia. The study, published Tuesday in the journal PLOS Biology, focuses on the different structures of the larynx — also known as the voice box — that bats use to expand their vocal range.
Vocal communication is essential for bats: They famously use sound to navigate their surroundings and locate their prey in a process known as echolocation. The flying critters also use sounds to communicate socially.
And bats that use echolocation have an impressive, seven-octave vocal range to match their sound needs, the researchers said. By comparison, most mammals, including humans, have a vocal range of three to four octaves. Bats use extremely high-pitched sounds to echolocate, but employ low-pitched growls to communicate with each other.
The scientists set out to understand exactly how Daubenton’s bats maximize their vocal range.
The research team extracted the larynxes of five bats who had been euthanized and filmed the organs while applying air flow to mimic natural breathing. This allowed the scientists to directly observe the vocal membranes and ventricular folds, also called “false vocal folds,” vibrating at different frequencies. These are “the first direct observations” of these vocal structures in Daubenton’s bats, the researchers said.
“We identified for the first time what physical structures within the larynx oscillate to make their different vocalizations. For example, bats can make low frequency calls, using their so called ‘false vocal folds’ — like human death metal singers do,” said Coen Elemans, the lead study author and a professor of biology at the University of Southern Denmark,in a news release.
Ventricular folds, or false vocal folds, are located on top of the true vocal cords. Historically, these folds were thought to have no role in normal human speech — hence the term “false.”
Low-frequency growls
But studies have revealed that these folds are crucial for a few unique forms of vocalization, like the distinctive “growling” death metal singers useor the throat singing from vocalists in Mongolia and Siberia.
The folds are likely also the source of bats’ low-frequency growls, the researchers found. They didn’t directly observe the vocal cords vibrating or oscillating. However, the researchers wrote, “We venture to speculate that in bats, the ventricular folds have taken on the role of lower frequency vibrations.”
Scientists still don’t know what exactly the bats are communicating when they use their death metal growls. “Some seem aggressive, some may be an expression of annoyance, and some may have a very different function,” said study coauthor and University of Southern Denmark biologist Lasse Jakobsen in the news release.
Brock Fenton, professor emeritus of biology at Western University in London, Ontario, told CNN that the study is an interesting first step into understanding bat vocalization. But there are over 1,400 known species of bats in the world — so a study focusing on just one species is limited in its application. He was not involved in the study.
“For vocal cords, this is interesting and new,” he said, but “there is a huge diversity of larynges in bats, that has hardly been described (in the paper).”
Fenton especially called for future research on bats that make long sounds, in contrast to the Daubenton’s bat’s high-pitched but short-length calls, saying that was necessary context to understand the breadth of bat vocalizations.
Alibaba founder Jack Ma hiding in Tokyo amid China’s crackdown on star tech firms: Reports
India Today Web Desk New Delhi,UPDATED: Nov 30, 2022 Chinese billionaire and Alibaba founder Jack Ma. (Photo: Reuters)
By India Today Web Desk: Alibaba founder Jack Ma has been hiding in Japan’s Tokyo with his family amid China’s crackdown on star tech firms and its most powerful and wealthy business people, latest reports say.
Jack Ma is known for his charismatic and outspoken nature, but he may have pushed the boundaries too far during an October 24 event, where he criticised Chinese regulators for stifling innovation.
During the conference in Shanghai, Ma had even compared Chinese banks with pawn shops. To sum it up, just a month before Ma’s Ant Group was about to launch the world’s biggest IPO, he went ahead and directly criticised the Chinese government, or the ruling Communist Party.
Beijing struck back by stopping his IPO and even summoned Ma and Ant executives to a meeting. The regulators have also asked for restructuring Ant Group’s business. The development has already cost Ma billions of dollars.
On Tuesday the Financial Times, which is owned by the Japanese media company Nikkei, revealed Ma has most recently been living in Japan.
Citing anonymous sources, the paper said that for almost six months the former English teacher turned tech superstar has been living in Tokyo with his family. His time has been spent mixing business and pleasure with visits to onsen (hot springs) and ski resorts in the Japanese countryside as well as regular trips to the US and Israel.
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JACK MA PROMOTED 996
Excitement, defiance for young Chinese in COVID 'tipping point' protests
Reuters James Pomfret and Martin Quin Pollard Publishing date: Nov 30, 2022
Ottawa Citizen
Protesters take part in a rally commemorating victims of China's COVID Zero policy outside Shinjuku Station on November 30, 2022 in Tokyo, Japan. Protesters took to the streets in multiple Chinese cities after a deadly apartment fire in Xinjiang province sparked a national outcry as many blamed COVID restrictions for the deaths.
PHOTO BY TOMOHIRO OHSUMI /Getty Images
HONG KONG/BEIJING — When Yang, a Shanghai office worker, saw video clips of a burning building in western China, a disaster in which 10 people were killed, she said she could not contain her anger over tough COVID-19 measures three years into the
Watching a World Cup soccer match in a Shanghai bar two days later with her boyfriend, she spotted calls on WeChat, China’s ubiquitous messaging app, for a public gathering to mourn the victims. She rushed over by bicycle to attend.
“Things reached a tipping point, we had to come out,” Yang, 32, who declined to be identified by her full name given fear of reprisals, told Reuters.
Six young people who spoke to Reuters from four cities across China – all dipping their toes in activism for the first time – describe a mix of elation, fear and defiance after a restive weekend and a tightening of security.
While united against China’s stifling “zero-COVID” measures, all six also spoke of a yearning for broader political freedoms, 33 years after students occupied China’s Tiananmen Square in 1989.
When Yang arrived at the gathering, small crowds were heckling ranks of police deployed beneath the mottled plane trees of Wulumuqi Road, named after Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang region where the fire occurred.
Authorities have denied the deaths in the fire were linked to lockdown measures that blocked the victims’ escape.
“We don’t want masks, we want freedoms,” Yang chanted, using her phone to share pictures, videos and posts over Twitter, Telegram and Instagram – apps not accessible on the mainland without a virtual private network, that she’d installed.
As the hours wore on, chants grew bolder.
“Down with the Chinese Communist Party,” people chanted, some casting off their masks. “Down with Xi Jinping!”
But much of the public frustration is directed at President Xi’s signature zero-COVID policy, rather than at him or the ruling party.
While many in China have supported the policy, which has spared it from the ravages of a virus that has killed millions elsewhere, significant frustration has built as a new wave of infections has led to the return of widespread lockdowns.
A senior health official said on Tuesday public complaints about the curbs stemmed from overzealous implementation rather than from the measures themselves, and authorities would continue fine-tuning policy to reduce the impact on society.
China has relied mainly on domestically produced vaccines, which some studies have suggested are not as effective as some foreign ones, meaning lifting COVID measures could come with big risks, some experts say.
People hold white sheets of paper in protest of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) restrictions, after a vigil for the victims of a fire in Urumqi, as outbreaks of the coronavirus disease continue in Beijing, China, November 27, 2022. REUTERS/Thomas Peter
‘FIRST TIME’
Considering herself part of a small “liberal bubble” in Shanghai – China’s most cosmopolitan city – Yang did not imagine so many people sharing her frustrations in a country that has grown increasingly authoritarian in the decade since Xi assumed power.
“This is the first time in my life I’ve done something like this,” she said. “In my heart, I’ve murmured such things a thousand times, but hearing these slogans suddenly chanted by so many real people was exciting and shocking to me.”
For many in other cities, the COVID lockdowns have exacerbated a sense of powerlessness.
“The protests are happening because under the COVID prevention measures people can’t satisfy their fundamental needs to survive,” said Jiayin, who took part in a demonstration in Guangzhou, a southern city with some of China’s highest recent infection numbers.
There, over the weekend, people thronged a bridge connecting two districts under lockdown and sang a Cantonese song called “Sky” by Hong Kong band Beyond, which was hugely popular among Hong Kong’s pro-democracy demonstrators in 2019.
More than 2,000 km to the north, students at elite universities were also mobilizing.
Cheng, a 23-year-old social science student who stood with hundreds on the campus of Beijing’s prestigious Tsinghua University, Xi’s alma mater, stressed that it was the duty of the elite to lead in pushing for social justice.
“I’m very proud that I can stand up with the best young people in China and speak out for everyone,” said Cheng.
She and other young protesters are tech savvy, with many communicating over Telegram in amorphous, anonymous and decentralized acts of defiance, with echoes of Hong Kong’s leaderless pro-democracy protests in 2019.
They have found support from overseas groups and online organizers, providing know-how on information security and how to evade censors.
The morning after her protest, Yang attended to chores at home after snatching three hours sleep then spent the day glued to her phone, posting incessantly. At times, she scolded friends who urged her to be “rational” and avoid the protests.
In one post, she wrote: “In an irrational reality, being rational and using logical words are far, far from adequate.”
“My brain felt overloaded with information, and my mood wasn’t stable,” she said.
With police in various cities now checking people’s phones for apps like Telegram, however, and summoning some people for interviews, Yang said she would lie low for now, using a clean “burner” phone to go out with.
“At this stage it’s better to wait for a while.”
Despite the risks, Dai’an, who identifies herself as a feminist and lives in the southwestern city of Chengdu, says she is driven by a “very simple sense of justice.”
“The worst is that you’ll be locked up right? But it’s better than facing the reality day by day and then not being able to do anything, and then you feel sorry for yourself.”
She attended a protest on Wangping Street, a location chosen because its name means “looking at ping,” an allusion to Xi Jinping.
“I don’t feel like I’m making history,” said Cheng. “But we live in history every day. I will always remember that.”
(Reporting by James Pomfret, Martin Quin Pollard, and Jessie Pang; Writing by James Pomfret; Editing by Tony Munroe)
Why humanitarians need to talk about Elon Musk’s Twitter
Changes will impact emergency response. Aid workers can’t be passive observers.
Aanjalie Roane Humanitarian communications professional based in Ottawa
THE NEW HUMANITARIAN
Dado Ruvic/Reuters
OTTAWA, Canada Humanitarians can’t afford to sit out conversations about Twitter’s next chapter. Too much is at stake.
The internet is ablaze with discussions surrounding Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover. The commentary has largely focused on the potential impacts of Musk’s proposed reforms on Western users. But the conversation shouldn’t stop there.
Countries like India, Brazil, and Indonesia boast among the highest number of Twitter users – a whopping 23 million, 19 million, and 18 million users respectively – and Mexico, Thailand, the Philippines, and Egypt aren’t far behind.
In these countries and beyond, Twitter has been used to both help and hinder humanitarian efforts.
As a humanitarian communications professional who has directly witnessed the influence of social media networks on emergency responses in West Africa, Greece, Lebanon, and beyond, I am concerned about what Musk’s proposed reforms could mean for the future of aid. Here are three implications: 1. Loosening oversight could weaken humanitarian responses
Musk’s expected intention to loosen content moderation on Twitter is one area where humanitarians need to pay close attention.
While the billionaire’s precise plan to unlock free speech on Twitter is yet to be unveiled, previous statements have suggested a desire to relax community standards and put an end to permanent account bans. As of 23 November, Twitter stopped enforcing policies that previously labelled and removed misleading COVID-19 information.
Weak social media moderation policies can exacerbate humanitarian crises, from amplifying hate speech during conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo, to mobilising anti-migration sentiments during COVID-19 in Greece. Twitter has also been weaponised by groups like the so-called Islamic State, or ISIS, which maintains at least 42,000 Twitter accounts for propaganda campaigns, mostly in Syria, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia. Despite scaling up efforts to restrict harmful content in recent years, Twitter’s screening tools remain inadequate for scanning foreign-language posts – so a steer toward further cutbacks is worrying.
Loosening content rules can also slow efforts to share and receive timely and reliable information during crises. When emergencies strike, real-time posting on Twitter helps humanitarians better understand the situation and communicate where and how people can find help like food, shelter, and medical assistance. Misinformation on social media can hamper these efforts – like in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where fake news about the Ebola vaccine contributed to existing mistrust towards health officials and aid workers. Without a more nuanced vision for content moderation, this may become the new norm on Musk’s Twitter. 2. Content editing may deteriorate humanitarian legitimacy and accountability
New efforts to introduce content editing features like an “edit button” on Twitter may also have deep consequences for the humanitarian sector. With new editing abilities, nefarious actors can turn to Twitter to share seemingly innocuous content – and then revise those same posts to include propaganda, hate, or misinformation after they’ve already raked in thousands of retweets. Combined with the platform’s ongoing cybersecurity issues, it could now become possible for hackers to edit and change legitimate humanitarian information posted online – for example, from government authorities or UN agencies during a disaster.
In recent years, whistleblowers have increasingly used Twitter to demand greater accountability from humanitarian organisations – an ability that could deteriorate with new editing features. For example, critics have often turned to Twitter to call out white saviour tropes and imagery shared by international NGOs in their online campaigns – but what happens when problematic content can simply be edited out in the face of criticism? While this might pave the way for international NGOs to revise old content with a more anti-racist lens, it could also swap more meaningful accountability in favour of simply editing away mistakes with the click of a button. 3. Monetising the checkmark: Another roadblock for humanitarians and activists
Finally, Musk’s plans to create a new subscription model for Twitter's coveted checkmarks warrants interrogation. Iranian activists have already warned how a pay-for-verification model could help Iranian government officials and other anti-protest actors appear more legitimate. At the same time, activists who previously gained their blue checkmarks organically may lose them if they aren’t able to afford the fees.
A new model could also snatch the megaphone from the hands of those who have few other ways to participate in global humanitarian decision-making. At a time when access to important humanitarian-related summits remains restrictive – either because of costly travel or prohibitive participation rules – Twitter verification at least provides a platform to voice perspectives that might otherwise be sidelined. During this year’s International AIDS Conference, for example, many activists turned to Twitter when visa issues barred them from attending in-person in Montreal. A tiered verification system may weaken this advocacy potential.
Whether we like it or not, Twitter is changing – and humanitarians must change with it. We have a responsibility to use our voices to push for more sophisticated moderation mechanisms, stringent cybersecurity, and equitable verification processes that support people affected by emergencies.
The future of Twitter remains unclear, and we can’t afford to have it determined by the whims of one unpredictable billionaire.
Aanjalie Roane is director of communications at Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Canada but is writing this in a personal capacity.
UK
Ambulance staff to hold first strike in 30 years ahead of Christmas as looming NHS winter crisis worsens
30 November 2022
Ambulance workers across England are set to strike before Christmas. Picture: Alamy
By Emma Soteriou
Ambulance workers across England are set to strike in the lead up to Christmas amid a mounting NHS winter crisis.
More than 80,000 health workers across England voted in favour of industrial action over pay and staffing levels.
Unison confirmed the decision on Tuesday, saying thousands of 999 call handlers, ambulance technicians, paramedics and their colleagues working for ambulance services in the North East, North West, London, Yorkshire and the South West are to be called out on strike.
The union's health committee is analysing the results of the ballot and will decide what happens next.
GMB - the largest union for ambulance staff - is also expected to declare its members have voted in favour of walkouts in coming weeks.
It comes after the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) announced that its members would stage their first ever national walk out on December 15 and 20.
Some 200,000 health workers are now understood to be backing strikes.
Ambulance staff during Clap For Our Carers. Picture: Alamy
Unison general secretary Christina McAnea said: "The decision to take action and lose a day's pay is always a tough call. It's especially challenging for those whose jobs involve caring and saving lives.
"But thousands of ambulance staff and their NHS colleagues know delays won't lessen, nor waiting times reduce, until the Government acts on wages. That's why they've taken the difficult decision to strike.
"Patients will always come first and emergency cover will be available during any strike. But unless NHS pay and staffing get fixed, services and care will continue to decline.
"The public knows health services won't improve without huge increases in staffing and wants the government to pay up to save the NHS. It's high time ministers stopped using the pay review body as cover for their inaction.
"Jeremy Hunt, Rishi Sunak and Steve Barclay must roll up their sleeves and start talking to unions about how better wages for staff can help start to turn the NHS around."
Thousands of 999 call handlers, ambulance technicians, paramedics and their colleagues are to be called out on strike. Picture: Alamy
Health and Social Care Secretary Steve Barclay said: "I’m hugely grateful for the hard work and dedication of NHS staff and deeply regret some will be taking industrial action – which is in nobody’s best interests as we approach a challenging winter.
"Our economic circumstances mean unions’ demands are not affordable - each additional 1% pay rise for all staff on the Agenda for Change contract would cost around £700 million a year.
"We’ve prioritised the NHS with record funding and accepted the independent pay review body recommendations in full to give over one million NHS workers a pay rise of at least £1,400 this year, with those on the lowest salaries receiving an increase of up to 9.3%.
"This is on top of 3% last year when public sector pay was frozen and wider government support with the cost of living.
"Our priority is keeping patients safe during any strikes and the NHS has tried and tested plans to minimise disruption and ensure emergency services continue to operate.
"My door remains open to discuss with the unions ways we can make the NHS a better place to work."
NHS Braced For Winter Of Discontent As Ambulance Workers Join Nurses On Strike
Unison members voted to walk out before Christmas in a dispute over pay.
Kevin Schofield 30/11/2022 Ambulance workers have voted to strike next month. DOMINIC LIPINSKI VIA PA WIRE/PA IMAGES
Ambulance workers across England are set to strike before Christmas after voting in favour of industrial action over pay and staffing levels.
The announcement by Unison came just hours after it was confirmed that up to 100,000 nursing staff will also walk out in December after rejecting a government pay offer.
Health secretary Steve Barclay has said their demands are “unaffordable”.
Unison said thousands of 999 call handlers, ambulance technicians, paramedics and their colleagues working for ambulance services in the north east, north west, London, Yorkshire and the south west are to go on strike.
Christina McAnea, the union’s general secretary, said: “The decision to take action and lose a day’s pay is always a tough call. It’s especially challenging for those whose jobs involve caring and saving lives.
“But thousands of ambulance staff and their NHS colleagues know delays won’t lessen, nor waiting times reduce, until the Government acts on wages. That’s why they’ve taken the difficult decision to strike.
“Patients will always come first and emergency cover will be available during any strike. But unless NHS pay and staffing get fixed, services and care will continue to decline.
“The public knows health services won’t improve without huge increases in staffing and wants the government to pay up to save the NHS.”
Meanwhile, members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) in England, Wales and Northern Ireland will take industrial action on December 15 and 20.
It is the first time nurses have gone on strike in the RCN’s 100-year history.
In Scotland, the RCN has paused announcing strike action after the Scottish government reopened NHS pay negotiations.
Responding to the result of the ambulance workers’ ballot, health secretary Steve Barclay said: “I’m hugely grateful for the hard work and dedication of NHS staff and deeply regret some will be taking industrial action – which is in nobody’s best interests as we approach a challenging winter.
″Our economic circumstances mean unions’ demands are not affordable.
“We’ve prioritised the NHS with record funding and accepted the independent pay review body recommendations in full to give over one million NHS workers a pay rise of at least £1,400 this year, with those on the lowest salaries receiving an increase of up to 9.3%.
“This is on top of 3% last year when public sector pay was frozen and wider government support with the cost of living.
“Our priority is keeping patients safe during any strikes and the NHS has tried and tested plans to minimise disruption and ensure emergency services continue to operate.
:My door remains open to discuss with the unions ways we can make the NHS a better place to work.”
Ambulance workers in GMB and Unite unions vote to strike in pay dispute
The Health Secretary said the demands from unions are not affordable.
The GMB said 10,000 of its ambulance members backed walkouts across nine trusts in England and Wales (Victoria Jones/PA) / PA Archive
Ambulance workers in two more unions have voted to strike over pay, raising the prospect of widespread industrial action before Christmas.
The GMB said 10,000 of its ambulance members backed walkouts across nine trusts in England and Wales.
Unite later announced its NHS members in England, including ambulance staff, paramedics and other NHS workers, had also voted to strike.
Unison reported on Tuesday that its NHS members had voted to strike.
Members of the Royal College of Nursing are staging two strikes later in December while other NHS workers including midwives and physiotherapists are voting on industrial action.
This is as much about unsafe staffing levels and patient safety as it is about pay. A third of GMB ambulance workers think delays they’ve been involved with have led to the death of a patient
The GMB said its members working as paramedics, emergency care assistants, call handlers and other staff are set to walk out in the following trusts: South West Ambulance Service, South East Coast Ambulance Service, North West Ambulance Service, South Central Ambulance Service, North East Ambulance Service, East Midlands Ambulance Service, West Midlands Ambulance Service, Welsh Ambulance Service and Yorkshire Ambulance Service.
The GMB said workers across the ambulance services and some NHS trusts have voted to strike over the Government’s 4% pay award, which it described as another “massive real-terms pay cut”.
The union will meet with reps in the coming days to discuss potential strike dates before Christmas.
Rachel Harrison, GMB national secretary, said: “Ambulance workers – like other NHS workers – are on their knees.
“Demoralised and downtrodden, they’ve faced 12 years of Conservative cuts to the service and their pay packets, fought on the front line of a global pandemic and now face the worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation.
“No-one in the NHS takes strike action lightly – today shows just how desperate they are.
“This is as much about unsafe staffing levels and patient safety as it is about pay. A third of GMB ambulance workers think delays they’ve been involved with have led to the death of a patient.x
“GMB calls on the Government to avoid a winter of NHS strikes by negotiating a pay award that these workers deserve.”
The news follows an announcement by Unison on Tuesday that thousands of 999 call handlers, ambulance technicians, paramedics and their colleagues working for ambulance services in the North East, North West, London, Yorkshire and the South West are to be called out on strike over pay and staffing levels after voting in favour of industrial action.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “We will not sit back and watch as this Government runs down our health service. This strike vote reflects the fact that ambulance staff, dedicated professionals to their core, have been left with no choice but to take a stand for the very future of the NHS itself and they have Unite’s 100% support.
“Make no mistake, what the Government is doing is a deliberate act of national self-harm. This is a political choice that the Government knows will put the NHS on life support.
“They know exactly what to do to avert these strikes. It begins with urgently getting around the table with the NHS unions to address the crisis in staff and pay levels. There is absolutely no point having make-believe plans for the NHS if you have no staff left.”
Unite members in the ambulance service said that many category one and category two calls are not meeting with a response.
Unite member George Dusher, who voted yes for action, said: “It’s carnage at the moment – the worst I’ve ever seen it. People are ringing for an ambulance and are then stuck waiting on the floor for ten hours because we can’t get to them. We’re not getting to cardiac arrests quickly enough because of delays.
“I used to see up to 10 patients during a shift, now it’s just three or four because of the delays in hospital admissions.
“Paramedics get into debt to train for this job, but the pay is too low and the stress is too high. It used to be that you’d leave half an hour after shift. Now it is one, two or even three hours. It’s too much and people are leaving.”
Health and Social Care Secretary Steve Barclay said: “I’m hugely grateful for the hard work and dedication of NHS staff and deeply regret some will be taking industrial action – which is in nobody’s best interests as we approach a challenging winter.
With strikes by nurses and ambulance workers looming, trusts are rightly worried about the potential for co-ordinated and prolonged industrial action in the coming months
“Our economic circumstances mean unions’ demands are not affordable – each additional 1% pay rise for all staff on the Agenda for Change contract would cost around £700 million a year.
“We’ve prioritised the NHS with record funding and accepted the independent pay review body recommendations in full to give over one million NHS workers a pay rise of at least £1,400 this year, with those on the lowest salaries receiving an increase of up to 9.3%.
“This is on top of 3% last year when public-sector pay was frozen and wider government support with the cost of living.
“Our priority is keeping patients safe during any strikes and the NHS has tried and tested plans to minimise disruption and ensure emergency services continue to operate.
“My door remains open to discuss with the unions ways we can make the NHS a better place to work.”
The interim chief executive of NHS Providers, Saffron Cordery, said: “Trust leaders have been preparing for strikes, including the possibility of industrial action by different groups of NHS staff, and trusts affected will do everything in their power to keep disruption to a minimum.
“But with strikes by nurses and ambulance workers looming, trusts are rightly worried about the potential for co-ordinated and prolonged industrial action in the coming months.
“We understand why staff are voting for industrial action but it’s vital that the Government and unions talk urgently to find a way to prevent strikes which nobody wants to see.
“Trust leaders remain committed to ensuring the safe delivery of care and supporting the wellbeing of staff throughout any industrial action.”
