Scottish ambulance staff vote for strike action amid pay row

Ambulance staff have voted for strike action amid a pay dispute with the Scottish government.

More than 4,000 GMB members – including paramedics, technicians, nurses, porters, domestics, and radiographers – across eight health boards are backing the industrial action.

The union has called on ministers to tackle an "understaffing crisis".

It follows a month-long ballot of 8,000 members across the NHS and associated services.

The GMB announced that 89% of its members in the ambulance service backed strike action, along with 98% of members from the Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board, 97% in Lanarkshire, 94% in Forth Valley and 88% in Lothian.

GMB Scotland organiser Karen Leonard said: "This a direct response from our members to the government that more must be done to properly value NHS workers and the services they deliver - not just to confront the cost of living crisis this winter, but also to tackle the understaffing crisis in our frontline services that's left staff utterly exhausted and increasingly angry.

"The understaffing crisis, in particular, has been understood for years and left unchallenged, only for Covid-19 to expose and exacerbate the chronic shortfalls in staffing levels, and no-one should be in any doubt the only way we can recruit and retain the people needed to kick-start a recovery is to value staff better."

Meanwhile, physiotherapy staff from NHS Scotland have also voted to take strike action in their first-ever ballot on pay.

The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP) announced on Tuesday that 79% of its members backed industrial action on a turnout of 63%.

The CSP is expected to run an online consultation on the new offer from the Scottish government of a flat pay uplift of £2,205 - backdated to April - which arose shortly before the ballot closed.

Alex MacKenzie, chairwoman of council at the CSP and a clinician in the NHS, said: "These results are a clear reflection of the anger and disillusionment felt by our members working in the NHS in Scotland.

"We are working under extreme pressure, caused in no small part by a workforce crisis that threatens to be exacerbated by a pay offer so far below inflation."

A Scottish government spokesperson said: "We are disappointed to hear that the GMB union and Chartered Society of Physiotherapy have rejected this record pay offer and are now considering taking industrial action.

"For the lowest paid, this represents an above-inflation 11% pay rise, and it will ensure our NHS Agenda for Change staff remain the best paid in the UK."