Ambulance workers vote for strike action
NEWS: News.
Ambulance workers will stage a 24-hour strike next month if a long-running dispute over issues including cuts are not resolved.
Industrial action looks ever more likely according to Unite union after it claims attempts at reconciliation have fallen on deaf ears.
Unite regional officer for Yorkshire – covering Selby – Terry Cunliffe, said its 450 members in the Yorkshire service, including paramedics and other staff, will walk out on April 2 and ban overtime from March 26.
He said attempts at negotiation through arbitrator ACAS had failed, as chief executive of Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust, David Whiting, said he would not meet with Unite under any circumstances and said he had “planned for industrial action”. Unite said the Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust had de-recognised the union after it raised concerns about patient safety over plans to make £46 million of savings over the next five years. Union members voted by 61 per cent in favour of strikes and 83 per cent for other forms of industrial action. Mr Cunliffe added: “There’s been no industrial action since 1989. It shows how committed ambulance workers are to patients.”
Stephen Moir, Deputy Chief Executive at Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust, said: “We would like to provide assurance that the Trust has plans in place to avoid any disruption to patient care if Unite members decide to go ahead with the industrial action they have outlined.”
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Weather for Goole
Wednesday 22 May 2013
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 4 C to 15 C
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