Scottish Ambulance Service workers confirm winter strike dates

Scottish Ambulance Service workers will stage a 26-hour strike later this month over pay.

GMB Scotland confirmed its members will take action from 06:00 on 28 November to 07:59 the following day.

The union said urgent meetings were being sought with management to ensure appropriate staffing levels for critical care.

On Friday Unite announced around 1,500 SAS staff, including paramedics, will strike on 25 November.

The Royal College of Nursing and health workers in three other unions have also voted for industrial action over the latest Scottish government pay offer.

It is for a flat rate of £2,205 per person backdated to April.

Health Secretary Humza Yousaf previously described the deal as “the largest of its kind since devolution”.

And ministers have warned there is no more money to fund public sector pay rises.

GMB announced the dates on Saturday after 89% of its SAS members voted for strikes earlier this month.

The union’s Scotland organiser Karen Leonard said: “Staff in the Scottish Ambulance Service have worked throughout the depths of the pandemic on the frontline of our public services, all the while dealing with an understaffing crisis and now a cost of living crisis this winter.

“These strikes are a direct response to the Scottish government who have failed to give key, frontline workers the pay rise that they deserve and who have overseen years of managed decline in the health services that so many rely on.”