A picket line was held outside Lincoln's 999 hub on Wednesday
East Midlands Ambulance Workers on a picket line in Lincoln say they “just want to help people” and aren’t able to under current working conditions, as strike action takes place outside the city’s blue lights hub on Wednesday.
The GMB union claims that the government’s imposed 4% pay award for staff translates to a real terms pay cut in line with inflation and considering the current rising cost of living – but concerns around where staff members are allocated on shifts are also at the forefront of the agenda for strikes.Colleagues on shift who are taking part in the strike action will also be on call for category A calls, ensuring that staff will be readily available in case any serious incidents occur.
“I think the media have portrayed it a lot as being solely about pay, and it’s more about working conditions with the fact our hands are being tied with how busy we are – on a day to day basis it’s absolutely heartbreaking that we’re stuck on jobs that don’t necessarily need us because it’s not an accident or emergency.”
“I just think enough is enough now. We want to help people so we just need to get the staff, be paid correctly, though it’s not all about pay, it’s very difficult to attract new recruits and retain existing staff members. “We’ve only got so many skills that we can use, and those are for accidents and emergencies. I’m here to support everybody and to let the general public know that we are here for them.
“However, we anticipate that on days where there is industrial action that there will still be fewer ambulances available and therefore our responses to our patients will, inevitably, be much slower on the day.
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