UK ambulance workers also go on strike, PM Rishi Sunak calls walkout ‘terrifying for patients’

Around 25,000 ambulance workers in the United Kingdom (UK) also went on a strike on Wednesday (January 11) over pay and working conditions. This is the second time since ambulance workers walked out and a third such strike is expected on January 23. According to a report by news agency Associated Press, health officials warned the impact of Wednesday's strike will be worse than the previous one (in December last year) as more staff members, including call handlers, are walking out.

People have been advised to call in case of any life-threatening emergency such as a cardiac arrest or a serious road accident,and ambulances will respond to such situations, the report said. However, less urgent cases will not be prioritised and some people will have to make arrangements to reach hospitals.

“When people accuse us of putting the public at risk, I would say it is this government that has put the public at risk by refusing consistently to talk to us. There is no offer on the table,” Christina McAnea, general secretary of the UNISON union, told striking workers outside an ambulance station in Sheffield on Wednesday, the report said.

In London, ambulance staff were seen holding placards and banners outside the London Ambulance service.

Referring to the country's '999' emergency services hotline, Sunak told Parliament, "Mr Speaker, what's terrifying is that right now, people not knowing whether when they call nine, nine, nine, they will get the treatment that they need. Now, Mr Speaker in Australia and Canada and the US, they banned strikes on blue light services. We're not doing that. All we're saying is that in these emergency services, patients should be able to rely on a basic level of life-saving care."

Not just ambulance workers, train and bus drivers and postal workers have also joined the strikes,which have been going on for the last few months,to demand better pay. Inflation in the UK has soared to the highest levels since the early 1980s and wages, especially in the public sector, have not kept pace with the skyrocketing cost of living.

Reuters reported on Wednesday that Unison, a trade union representing ambulance workers, said the government had months to intervene and end the dispute but failed to do so. Unison blamed the administration for repeatedly refusing to come to the table for discussions.

(With inputs from agencies)

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