Ambulance workers in Portsmouth will take strike action over pay dispute on Tuesday

Unite’s members employed at both South Central Ambulance Service NHS Trust and South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Trust will strike from 12pm until 10pm on Tuesday. It means that picket lines will be in place at Portsmouth Ambulance Station on Eastern Road.

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Last month Unite’s members employed in the NHS in England rejected the government’s offer of a lump sum cash payment for 2022/23 and a below inflation increase of five per cent for 2023/24. Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: ‘The government must re-open negotiations to ensure that a proper wage offer is made to NHS workers. We have always said that a non-consolidated lump sum for 22/23 would not cut it. So it has turned out.

‘The current offer does nothing to resolve the recruitment and retention crisis crippling the NHS. The strike action by our south east ambulance workers is part of Unite’s escalation strategy to exert greater pressure on the government.’

The renewed strike action is part of Unite’s strategy to increase the pressure on the government to re-open the negotiations to ensure that NHS workers get a fair pay increase. The union is in the process of undertaking a series of industrial action ballots to expand the number of workers able to take industrial action and exert further pressure.

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