Strike wave grows in England: Ambulance staff will also leave their jobs

Strikes are spreading in England. Ambulance staff in England and Wales announced that they will go on strike on December 21.

According to the BBC, nurses in England, Wales and Northern Ireland will also go on strike on December 15 and 20.

The governments of England and Wales had given medical staff an average raise of 4.75 percent. Employees are demanding higher-than-inflation pay raises. In the UK, annual inflation rose to 11.1 percent in October, breaking a 41-year record.

Ambulances will only respond to vital calls during the strike. According to union rules, it is necessary to take calls and provide care for conditions such as heart attacks, strokes and serious trauma.

Unison, the industry’s largest organized union for ambulance staff, has the right to strike in only half of the UK’s 10 regional agencies. Therefore, the strike is expected to be irregular.

EMPLOYEES BEGAN TO LEAVE

Sara Gorton, head of the Unison union, argued that the government can only blame itself for the pre-Christmas strikes, arguing that wages are so low that workers are leaving the health sector because of it:

“More and more people are quitting,” Gorton said. There are few workers left to care for the sick. The public also knows that this is the reason for the long waits in hospitals.”

Stating that the ambulance staff did not want to put anyone in a difficult situation, Gorton said: “Yet ministers are doing nothing to prevent this disaster.”

Many different occupational groups, especially railway, postal, dock and fire workers, have gone on strike in the UK in recent months due to high inflation and low pay increases.

INTERESTING EXIT OF THE MINISTER FROM RUSSIA

Nadhim Zahawi, the Iraqi-born minister of state in the government of Indian-born Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, urged “to drop demands for wage increases in order to send a clear message to Russian President Vladimir Putin.”

Speaking to Sky News on Sunday, Zahawi urged nurses to drop demands for pay increases and strike decisions “to send a clear message to Putin that Ukraine cannot weaponize energy prices against its allies.”

Zahawi stated that “nurses need to reconsider their decisions because this is exactly what Putin wants to see” and said: “We need to be united, now is not the time to divide.” I hope to send a very clear message to Putin that he cannot weaponize energy in this way and that we will stick together.”

THE ARMY CAN ASSIST

Zahawi said that “they have contingency plans in case of a strike, the government plans to involve the army so that public services are not interrupted, that it can be taken over by soldiers so that health and border services are not interrupted.”

Zahawi said they are considering assigning the “army and expert emergency response force” instead of the personnel going on strike, adding that military personnel can “take over the duties of frontline medical personnel and drive an ambulance.” “in case of a strike