Further strikes by health workers announced by Unite union

Unite said it was escalating industrial action over pay as well as safe-staffing levels.

NHS workers on the picket line (Jordan Pettitt/PA) (PA Wire)

Fresh strikes by health workers have been announced in the ongoing dispute over pay in the NHS.

Unite said it was escalating industrial action over pay as well as safe-staffing levels.

Unite’s members at the West Midlands Ambulance Service will take strike action on Monday June 12, followed by union members at the Christie hospital in Manchester and the City Hospital in Birmingham, who will walk out on Wednesday June 14.

That will coincide with the British Medical Association junior doctors’ strike.

The pay offer put forward by the Government does nothing to address the recruitment and retention crisis of staff which is promoting the current staff exodus

Sharon Graham

Unite’s members at the Yorkshire Ambulance Service will also take strike action on Friday June 23 and Monday June 26.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Unite will continue to escalate its industrial action until the Government returns to the negotiating table and makes NHS workers a fair pay offer.

“Our members are clear that a decade of real-terms pay cuts and under investment is undermining the future of the NHS.

“The pay offer put forward by the Government does nothing to address the recruitment and retention crisis of staff which is promoting the current staff exodus.

“Ministers must know that.”