ISTANBUL
Unite the Union, one of the UK’s largest unions, announced on Friday that its “members will organize ten more strikes in the coming weeks and warned that “additional dates could be announced in the coming days”.
In a press release, the union reported that the new strike comes ahead of the last day of the strike by ambulance workers, who are ready to demonstrate next Monday, January 23.
Union general secretary Sharon Graham accused the government of “shamefully choosing to demonize ambulance workers rather than protect the NHS and negotiate an end to the dispute”.
Graham warned that ministers were “deliberately misleading the public about life insurance and who is responsible for excess deaths,” reiterating that their “members are conscientious about offering life insurance on strike days.”
In that spirit, Graham pointed out that this Government’s “disastrous management of the NHS has brought it to breaking point” and stressed that “the Prime Minister is washing his hands on the dispute as the crisis piles up”. .
Graham described the stance taken by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his government as an “abdication of leadership”.
The new strike will involve union members in the North West, North East, East Midlands, West Midlands, Wales and Northern Ireland.
As with previous strikes, union representatives will work together at regional level to agree waivers to ensure emergency supplies are in place during strikes.
Other exceptions ensure that patients who require vital treatment, such as kidney care and cancer treatment, are transported to their appointments.
For his part, the national director of the union, Onay Kasab, stated that the “resolution of this dispute is in the hands of the government” and stressed that the “dispute will only be settled if it enters into proper negotiations on the current wage dispute.”
Kasab also called the government’s current offers and solutions “insufficient to resolve the dispute.”
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