Ambulance workers going on strike

[behappy1736]

Now I'm probably going to get flack for this but I just cannot get my head around why ambulance workers or any other medical professionals go on strike! I get it because of the pay rise and they are trying to make a point and strike to get a rise etc, but how can they do this when they know their actions will have consequences for people if they all strike?
It worries me that you will not be able to get an ambulance if needed for your family or children and I just don't understand how they can do this when their jobs are putting people first this kind of action is the complete opposite of that.

Try working under the awful conditions they work under and then moan about them striking! The whole system is collapsing and its not just because of money!

The main reason they are striking is to improve patient care, not pay. The NHS is at breaking point and they are sick and tired of not being able to help people as much as they should be able to. Unfortunately the only way to get the government to listen is to cause inconvenience, and even then the tories barely give a shit.

The system is collapsing anyway.

People aren't able to get ambulances out in a timely already. People are having to wait hours for an ambulance.

Maybe if the job conditions were better, there would be more paramedics and a better service?

I used to work in a job in which we never went on strike. We might withdraw paperwork that affected statistics but we never looked at cases and said I think that might be serious, so I'll go. But that probably won't be, so I'll leave it. Truth is, you never know what is serious and what isn't until you get there and we'd never have risked a life.

I was chatting to a paramedic about this just this morning and he said loads of people won't be striking and will be paid to pick up extra shifts, and because of the cost of living a lot of paramedics will be taking advantage. He reckons they'll likely have full staffing levels. How true this is I don't know.

Why is all the moral responsibility being placed on the poor sods who do the really hard, emotionally draining, poorly paid, high stress job and not on the people actually in charge of deciding to make their pay and conditions so poor? Do you not expect the politicians and big bosses to feel morally obliged to keep services running?

I believe they will still be taking life threatening issues they aren't stopping all services

I can work a 12 hours shift and not have a meal break all day, then I can be stuck at a job making that 12 hour shift into a 14 hour one (worst I've had is a 16.5 hour shift without a break) for this I get paid just over £11 an hour. I work 48 hours minimum a week. I save lives every shift. I cannot afford to pay my gas and electricity.

Why would I not strike?

and I just don't understand how they can do this when their jobs are putting people first

that's not their job, their job is to provide safe patient care, they want to do this which is why they're striking.

I got paid less than paramedics. We didn't strike because the outcome of such could be tragic. It had nothing you do with shitty management. I couldn't have lived with myself if something had gone wrong. I understood that before I took the job.

👏👏👏

Anyone working a fulltime professional job shouldn't have to struggle to pay basic bills.

People are leaving the ambulance service in the hundreds, because, let's face it, no one would knowingly choose to work this. Would you want your life to count on an ambulance worker who has worked for 12 hours straight with no break, would you trust them to make decisions that your life depends on? I wouldn't, and I'm one of them.

Its not just about pay its about patient care/safety, working conditions etc.

Regardless of this strike patient lives are already at risk with the current issues within the NHS.

Emergency cover will be available during the strike and Unite have made clear it will maintain essential emergency cover for patients.

Really? You can't see why they'd want to strike. Have you spent any time at all around hospitals or the emergency services?

There are already consequences for patients with the absolute ridiculous staffing conditions we already have. Patients are not being cared for adequately because we don’t have the manpower to do so. Nurses are leaving the profession in droves & we are unable to fill the positions because the incentives aren’t there. You can get paid just as much to work in a supermarket with less unsociable hours, far less responsibility & less abuse from the general public. The choice to strike has not been taken lightly, in fact as a nurse I’ve had to vote 3 times already & in Scotland the decision still hasn’t been made. We care about our patients & that’s exactly why we are choosing to strike. It’s a short term problem to combat a long term issue.

IsitACowIsItAPlane
I absolutely applaud you 👏🏻 Honestly I truly think ambulance workers and paramedics are hero's and we've had amazing experience with them when our little one was poorly.
But my worry is what happens when you all go on strike if someone desperately needs help? A baby? A young child or elderly relative. Surely the very job you are proud to do, but striking and putting lives in danger is defeating that?

You can't get an ambulance anyway, loads of people are dying now because of it. That isn't the fault of paramedics, it's the fault of twelve years of Tory rule.

This.

It's already unsafe for patients and unsafe for paramedics and techs. The increase of private ambulance companies means more paramedics are leaving the NHS because of poor pay and conditions.

I support you and your colleagues 100%

Military personnel are going to get their Christmas badly mucked around because of this one.

There will still be ambulances - and there might be enough combat med techs to provide safe patient care in the back (the driver will however almost certainly be a driver, with no medic qualifications beyond a first aid course)

I was astonished to find out that they have to fund their driving license for the job! It's terrible. They should absolutely fight for better conditions.

@behappy1736 are you going to get trained up and come and show emergency workers how to do it better?

Emergency cover will be available during any strike" and Unite made clear it will maintain essential emergency cover for patients.

I can’t u understand why morally the government refuses to raise wages for these people to a level they themselves have increased their own wages

its wrong of the government to put peoples lives at risk by keeping wages low which discourages applicants