UK
Ambulance and Border Force workers stage new strikes as fresh rail and nurses walkouts announced

Ambulance staff are calling on the government to "talk, pay now, and make a decent offer"

By Claire Schofield

Ambulance and Border Force staff are staging fresh strikes today as the long-running disputes over pay, staffing and conditions continue.

Members of GMB and Unite in the West Midlands will mount picket lines outside hospitals across the region on Friday (17 February).

Stuart Richards, GMB senior organiser, said: “West Midlands ambulance workers are on strike over this year’s pay. But ministers seem to think GMB members will be fobbed off by pretending this year’s cost of living crisis hasn’t happened.

“They are wrong. The government could easily get these strikes suspended, so why are they leaving NHS workers and the public to suffer? It’s simple – talk pay now and make a decent offer for this year. Our members and the public are waiting.”



Ambulance and Border Force staff are staging fresh strikes today (Photo: Getty Images)

At the same time, members of the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) in Dover and French ports including Calais will also walk out. The Border Force strikes will run from Friday over the weekend until 20 February as workers demand better pay, pensions and job security. The union claimed inexperienced staff were being brought in to cover for striking workers.


PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: “Ministers say their priority is security – it obviously isn’t. They say they have no money to give our hard-working members a fair pay rise, but then find money to pay non-striking workers a healthy bonus, to pay for their transport across the country and to pay for four nights’ hotel accommodation.

“If ministers were serious about security, they would resolve this dispute immediately by putting money on the table to ensure fully-trained, experienced professionals are guarding our borders.”

Friday’s walkouts come after rail workers and nurses announced further strike dates for next month. Members of the Rail, Martine and Transport union (RMT) will walk out on 16, 18 and 30 March and 1 April at 14 train operators. The union’s members at Network Rail will strike on 16 March and will then launch a ban on overtime, after accusing employers of refusing to put any new offers on the table.

Meanwhile, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has announced a significant escalation in strike action at more than 120 NHS employers in England in the increasingly bitter dispute over pay and staffing. The next strike will run continuously for 48 hours from 6am on 1 March

Royal Mail workers have also voted overwhelmingly to continue with a campaign of industrial action in a bitter dispute over pay, jobs and conditions. A fresh ballot of members of the Communication Workers Union showed almost 96% were in favour of more strikes unless the deadlock is broken.

CWU general secretary Dave Ward said it was a “stunning” result which showed that Royal Mail workers were determined to continue campaigning against plans to introduce changes in the company.

UNISON members at East of England Ambulance Service to strike over pay

They've joined staff at other NHS organisations in voting to walk out

Author: Alan Jones, PAPublished 17th Feb 2023

Workers at the East of England Ambulance Service have joined colleagues across the UK in voting to strike in a long-running dispute over pay and staffing.

UNISON said the growing NHS dispute will now cover ambulance services and other NHS organisations across most parts of England.

Announcing re-ballot results of thousands more health workers, Unison said staff at another four English ambulance services and five NHS organisations, including NHS Blood and Transplant, will now be able to strike in a "significant escalation" of the dispute.

The union said ambulance staff at four services in England: East of England as well as South Central, West Midlands and East Midlands; had voted to take industrial action.

They've been joined today by health workers at: NHS Blood and Transplant; Great Ormond Street Hospital; the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust; Liverpool Women's Hospital; and the Bridgewater Community Trust.

The 12,000 staff involved in the re-ballots can now take part in the ongoing dispute alongside their NHS colleagues at ambulance services in London, Yorkshire, the North East, North West and South West.

Since the dispute over pay and staffing began in December, staff at these service have taken strike action on four occasions.

Unison general secretary Christina McAnea said: "It's time the Prime Minister ditched his do nothing strategy for dealing with escalating strikes across the NHS.

"Governments in other parts of the UK know what it takes to resolve disputes. Ministers in Scotland and Wales are talking to health unions and acting to boost pay for NHS staff this year.

"And Holyrood is really showing Westminster up. Health workers in Scotland have had a bigger pay rise this year and are set to get a decent wage increase in April following their Government's latest offer.

"Sadly, health workers across England have been met with a wall of silence from Number 10. The Prime Minister stubbornly refuses to talk about pay, preferring to subject everyone to many months of disruption.

"The public must think the Westminster Government is living on another planet. They can see how talks in other parts of the UK have lifted the threat of strikes and cannot understand why the Prime Minister isn't doing the same.

"Health staff want to go back to work, and the public wants an NHS capable of delivering quality care. The Prime Minister must roll up his sleeves, invite the unions into Downing Street and start the genuine pay talks that could end this damaging dispute."