Ambulance and Border Force staff continued their strike action on Friday, as nursing and rail unions announced another wave of strikes for next month.
GMB and Unite members plan to mount picket lines all across the West Midlands. Meanwhile, members of the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) in Dover and French ports, including Calais, will walk out today and over the weekend.
Trade union Unison stated that ambulance staff at four services in England, South Central, East of England, West Midlands and East Midlands, have voted to take industrial action. Organisations that workers striking are from include NHS Blood and Transplant, Great Ormond Street Hospital, and the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust.
Unison general secretary Christina McAnea said: “It’s time the Prime Minister ditched his do nothing strategy for dealing with escalating strikes across the NHS. “Governments in other parts of the UK know what it takes to resolve disputes.”
Similarly, Border Force staff will strike from Friday until the 20th of February, demanding better pay, pensions and job security. The PCS union claimed that inexperienced staff were brought in to cover for those striking.
PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka claimed that minister’s are not prioritising security, saying, “If ministers were serious about security, they would resolve this dispute immediately by putting money on the table to ensure fully-trained, experienced professionals are guarding our borders.”
These strikes come after rail workers and nurses announced further strike dates for next month. Rail, Martine and Transport union (RMT) members will walk out on 16, 18 and 30 March and 1 April at train operators. The union’s members at Network Rail will also strike on 16 March.
In London, PCS members of the British Museum are also taking part in the strike over pay, cancelling museum events for the half-term. They were joined by Jeremy Corbyn, who expressed the importance of winning the disputes.
He says, “When we win those disputes, that is a victory for every poor child, everybody in mental health stress, every homeless person, because it begins to address the grotesque levels of inequality that exist in our society”.