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MORE Unite ambulance workers have decided to take part in industrial action on Tuesday May 2nd.
Unite said yesterday that members at South Central, South East Coast and West Midlands ambulance trusts alongside workers at Christies NHS Foundation Trust, Christies Pathology Partnership, East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust and Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust will all take part in industrial action on the Tuesday.
It follows the announcement that those at Guy’s and St Thomas’ and Yorkshire Ambulance Service will strike on May Day.
Unite’s consultative ballot on the government’s NHS pay offer ends on 28 April.
But the union has received strong indications that many members are unhappy with the deal and it is therefore preparing further industrial action.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said yesterday: ‘Unite has been upfront and honest that it did not believe that the pay offer was good enough for NHS workers.
‘A lump sum payment and yet another real terms pay cut doesn’t meet the challenges faced by NHS workers.
‘Where our members have indicated that they want to swiftly return to the picket line, Unite is ensuring they are able to do so.’
Unlike other health unions Unite did not recommend its members to accept the government’s pay offer of a non-consolidated cash lump sum payment for 2022/23 and a five per cent increase for 2023/24, with the current real inflation rate (RPI) standing at 13.5 per cent this is a substantial real terms pay cut for NHS workers.
Unite national lead officer for the NHS dispute Onay Kasab said: ‘Unite had clear reservations about the government’s offer from the very outset. What is now clear is that our members hold similar views.’
- Commenting on the latest ONS inflation figures yesterday, Unite general secretary Graham said: ‘These latest inflation figures change nothing for workers.
‘The public are beginning to cotton on that it’s not wage rises driving prices it’s rampant corporate profiteering. There’ll be no end in sight to the crisis until we tackle that scourge.
‘So while politicians and policy makers snooze at the wheel, Unite’s ongoing fight to win better jobs, pay and conditions continues.’
New Unite research, analysing the FTSE 350 shows how profit margins for the first half of 2022 were 89% higher compared to the same period in 2019.
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