Calls 'significantly reduced' and no deaths caused by ambulance worker strike action in West Midlands, union chief says
Nobody died as a result of major strike action and calls were significantly reduced to West Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS), a union chief has said.
Stuart Richards, senior organiser for GMB in the Midlands, said bosses were thankful for the news – and for the public scaling back their calls to the service.
It comes as both members of the union and Unite took part in a national walkout on Wednesday in an ongoing dispute over pay and pressures facing the NHS.
And the reaction to the industrial action has been positive across both the West Midlands and the East Midlands, areas where Mr Richards is responsible for.
The union rep told the Express & Star: "The public support has been absolutely amazing. The area I cover is both the West Midlands and East Midlands ambulance services, so I was nipping across different picket lines throughout the day and people were coming up to those there and bringing them food.
"There were others offering us money, people driving past and sounding their horns and it was really overwhelming – I haven't had a report of any bad feedback."
The next ambulance strike is due to take place on December 28, although discussions are under way over whether it can be averted..
"For us, we're walking a fine line in that we have to raise these issues on behalf of ambulance workers because the Government don't want to meet with them and don't want to tackle this situation," Mr Richards said. "But we want to minimise the significant impact this will have.
"We're meeting as we speak about what we're going to do on December 28 and whether that's going ahead, but everything we do is done with a huge amount of consideration to the general public."
The union chief added he was grateful there were no deaths due to the strike action and was made aware there had been a "significant reduction" in calls for ambulances over the period.
Meanwhile Health Secretary Steve Barclay is considering fast-tracking an NHS pay rise next year in a bid to resolve the dispute but has so far ruled out any movement on current wages.
West Midlands Ambulance Service has been contacted for comment.
