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UK strikes: Ambulance drivers walk out over pay dispute

Tuesday, 21 February 2023 10:35 PM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 22 February 2023 2:00 AM ]

Saeed Pourreza
Press TV, London

They said they were in it for the long haul, and they have kept their promise. Thousands of ambulance drivers from two separate unions walking off the job across much of England and Wales. Their demand: a pay award that keeps pace with the rising cost of living. The message: that the service is already stretched beyond its limit.

Mondays are typically the busiest day for ambulance services across the country with people now advised to use the 999 service only in an emergency. Despite the disruption, public support for the strikers is strong.

Despite being on strikes, the crews still leave the picket lines to respond to emergency calls, but the message is: even serious calls will face substantial delays.

The strike action by NHS staff has only intensified in recent weeks with multiple other walkouts planned for next month. Another single biggest day of action will come at the start of march when nurses will walk off the job once again just like the ambulance drivers are doing today.

The unions insist the solution is in the government's hands, a pay increase of about 10 percent. In the case of nurses, five percent above inflation that's stubbornly in the double digits.

Yet the man holding the strings to the public purse, chancellor Jeremy Hunt says that's not affordable.

February has already seen more than 500 thousand people take industrial action. With public strike fatigue nowhere in sight, the walkouts are likely to continue for months.

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