As of today, 11 Trusts are balloting strike action due to pay and unsafe working conditions. What are your opinions on this?

47 comments

  4. Solidarity, no question about it. A lot of British people seem to think that striking is just done on a whim with the aim of capriciously causing inconvenience. As someone working in the NHS, it’s a difficult ethical decision taken as a last resort when negotiations have broken down, and I will always support my fellow unionised workers. We need to lift each other up, not allow the richest in society to divide us. We have far more in common with each other than with the headline-grabbing politicians.

  5. It’s not ideal, but they have to do what they have to do to secure fair compensation.

    Solidarity.

  8. They should be paid more. All public sector workers should be. Completely behind them.

  9. I don’t understand anyone who thinks going on strike when you’re underpaid and overworked is wrong.

  10. My opinion is why haven’t they received better pay?!
    Because higher ups are willing to let them strike, let people suffer because of it and then make out that its the emoyees that are the bad guys.

    I’m with all of you, all of the way. No point clapping every Thursday, this should have happened during the first lockdown.

  11. I just hope that people remember that it is the government who have created this not the paramedics/ambulance service.

    The blame is not theirs.

    Really tough job and deserve fair employment conditions.

    Look at what good it did doctors and nurses etc during covid carrying on without complaint in terrible conditions. They got clapped – yeah that helped

  12. They deserve better pay, pensions and working conditions, no doubt. If it comes to a strike I’m not going to blame them, I’ll blame the government and whoever else let it get to this point.

    What would happen should they strike? Will the army fill the gap like they did with firefighters?

  13. I was speaking to a fireman last week who said that , *if the binmen can get more than 5% then the fire service shouldn’t be accepting less*.. teachers here have been offered 5% as well, though my wife’s local authority didn’t get enough yes votes for a strike but I believe the union is asking for 10%

    The binmen did well to get in early and their deal will be the measure everyone else looks to and, rightly or wrongly, says “well a nurse/fireman is more important than a bin man so I should be getting x%”

    This is in Scotland btw

  15. Yes they should strike or work to rule, as they have been absolutely stretched to the limit in a dysfunctional NHS system.

  18. I support strikers

    This is going to hit hard, and it’s going to hit people who are in pain and need….. but how else do you get a message through to the employers?

    the worst-case scenario is that people quietly quit – leave the service, en masse – and then the wait times and problems that we have now become exponentially worse

  19. Good.

    Nurse here, I hope that all public workers go on strike. Every single one of them.

    Sorry, we absolutely do have the money for a pay rise.

    It was estimated that a 10% pay rise for all NHS staff would costs 4bn GBP, and out of that about 80% would go back to the government via the different forms of taxation.

    10% would literally be about 2000-6000 pound for every staff member, for a little over 800 million gbp. We can’t afford that, but apparently we can afford to give 45 billion in tax cuts.

  20. It’s not ideal, but I would rather they strike than go to other jobs for fair pay.

    Their work is essential, we need highly skilled highly trained people doing it, and so we need to pay them properly.

    Pay peanuts, can’t employ monkeys, get nothing!

  21. As a nurse, whose unions are also balloting for strike action, I fully support the ambulance trusts in this. Their jobs is harder than mine, and they are not paid fairly for what they do

  22. All public servants deserve to be paid way more than they are, if your the main thing holding a country together you should be paid accordingly.

  23. You can bet your life that it wasn’t an easy decision for them. A big part of doing that job in the first place is the desire to help people (in spite of ludicrous hours, terrible pay traumatising work conditions and having to face the very worst that humanity can throw at them on occasion) so to choose to stand back and take the opposite approach is going to be a real effort for them.

    But yeah, I support them wholeheartedly. They deserve more and not just financially. Now let’s see who comes out in support of the strike and who doesn’t.

  25. The crews are having to work ridiculously long hours and are stuck at hospitals unable to handover or respond to other emergencies. And the public treat them like shit. I’m all for it.

  26. And the rest of the NHS by the end of this month.

    You support them, or you better not phone them when your Gran needs them.

    Striking ambulance drivers will always attend emergencies. No one will be left to die. There are procedures in place.

  29. EMTs should not be striking but the fault is firmly placed with the gov and bosses who refuse to pay and provide safe working conditions. this dangerous strike can be avoided and its in the hands of the gov now.

  30. Solidarity. It shouldn’t have gotten to the point of them needing to strike. Why aren’t they being paid and treated better for doing a job that many of could never do? Striking will have been a last resort decision that they probably don’t feel good about.

  31. They are absolutely right to go on strike. I’ve said it before and I will say it again, we should ALL strike.

    It’s a bloody shame we/they have to use strike action to get decent working conditions and remuneration. This exploitation farce has been going on long enough!

  34. It’s almost impossible for healthcare workers to strike because of the duty of care and that’s exactly why its important they all act together, strength in numbers. Our NHS staff need better pay and work conditions desperately so I support them always.

  35. Solidarity.

    If anyone thinks that what they do is too I portent to strike, that is precisely the reason they should be incredibly well paid and supported. A profession cannot be utterly vital and underappreciated at the same time, not by a rational society anyway.

  36. If they feel strongly enough to walk out of work and forgo pay to make a point, I wish them the best of luck, and support them.

  38. I work hospitality. This past Wednesday, as I was bringing in outside tables whilst closing at around 22.45, I attempted to pick up a table as I have been doing for months and my back completely gave in. I have scoliosis and spina bifida and as such have a history of herniated disks in my lower spine. This however was the absolute worst of all of them, an immediate, horrible pain which I would not wish on my worst enemies. My colleague immediately called for an emergency ambulance as I was writhing around on the floor screaming in agony.

    It took over four hours for the emergency ambulance to arrive, and then an added 30 minutes as a driver qualified to administer morphine to help move me had to come.

    I don’t blame any of those wonderful people in the slightest for the delay. They saved me from the worst pain I’ve ever dealt with.

    For context, I am an otherwise very healthy 23 year old male and this was in central London.

    These drivers had been working for over 8 hours, rushing around London dealing with call after call from people in need. Even in my medicated, agonised state I could see just how tired and overworked these guys were, even despite their trying to remain as chipper and professional as possible.

    FUND THE NHS! Buy more ambulances and train more drivers so that people like me who were in genuine need can be seen to quicker, and so that these amazing people can live a healthy, well balanced life and better be able to do their jobs.

    Obviously I have no quick, or easy answers to the wider systematic issues at play here, but my god at the very least can we stop underpaying and making life so difficult for the heroes whose entire livelihood is dedicated to helping those in need.

    I fully support any strike, despite any negative consequences, because it is the only way at this point that necessary and required change can be made.

  39. Solidarity.

    Along with pretty much every other part of public services – wider NHS, care, police, courts, fire service, councils, HMRC, Environment Agency, etc. – they’ve not been funded adequately to do the job.

    Without appropriate spending/investment the service will struggle/fail, putting staff and the public at risk.

  41. I view every strike as a protest against the rising cost of living. The government will make it out to be each employees personal greed but we have had too much austerity for too long. Tax corporations and billionaires and energy companies

  42. They should be paid more. They work 12 hour shifts including night shifts with little extra for working bad hours.

  43. It’s the government who’re the cause of the problems – alongside a very poorly managed NHS. Action has to be taken and I’m all for it.

  44. Go for it.

    I work in the NHS, and I’m sick of being shafted all over by the theives in government.

    Claiming “think of the patients” is fine. Yeah No10, Think of the patients and give us a livable pay rise, while you’re all reserving you £100k + pensions for 44 days in a job.

  46. Full solidarity. I’m a nurse awaiting my ballot from gmb to strike and my sister is a paramedic who intends to strike. She said strike will likely take the form of only responding to category A emergency (or 1, I cant remember if its an abc or 123 system). Basically only responding to cardiac arrest, stroke or catastrophic Injury. She works her arse off and its Just disgraceful what she puts up with.

  47. I’ve been wanting them to strike for a while. Same with nurses, midwives, healthcare assistants, and pretty much everyone working in healthcare. I’ve seen the unsafe working conditions as a patient.

    I’ve overheard paramedics discussing the fact that they are scheduled for more hours than is safe to drive.

    On one ward, I’ve heard a patient shouting help for over half an hour because there were no staff to go to her (they were understaffed and the nurse that had been working had rushed another patient down to theatre for emergency surgery).

    On a different ward, I only got 3 doses of medication one day instead of 4 because there were not enough staff on shift to give out meds so everything was delayed.

    Anyone that says think of the patients- yeah exactly. Some patients will die as a result of these unsafe working conditions if something isn’t done. Strike is very needed.

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