Thousands of ambulance workers in Britain are staging a 24-hour strike, with unions and the government accusing each other of putting lives at risk. The government is telling people not to play contact sports, take unnecessary trips or get drunk.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservative administration argues that double-digit public sector raises would drive inflation even higher.“I have never seen such an abdication of leadership as I have from Rishi Sunak and the health secretary,” said Sharon Graham, leader of the Unite union that represents some ambulance staff.
Visiting a picket line in central England, she said “this government can make different choices. They can say that ‘actually we choose to invest in the people in the .’ But they are looking at different choices, because they don’t want this to end. I think they want this crisis to be there.” Nurses have also held two days of strikes this month, piling pressure on a health system that is already under strain from surging demand as pandemic restrictions ease, alongside staff shortages from burnout and Brexit, which has made it harder for Europeans to work in the U.K.Official statistics show that ambulances in many areas are routinely stuck waiting outside hospital emergency departments, sometimes for hours, because there are no beds for the patients.
Ambulance crews are due to strike again on Dec. 28. Railway staff, passport officers and postal workers are also planning walkouts over the Christmas holiday season. The U.K.’s most intense strike wave for decades is a response to a cost-of-living crisis driven by soaring food and energy prices in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The government is calculating that public opinion will turn on the unions as people across the U.K. face postponed hospital appointments, canceled trains and travel delays during the winter holiday season. But opinion polls show a high level of support for the workers.
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