Dates that Welsh ambulance workers will strike have been announced today by the GMB union.

Almost 1,500 ambulance workers including paramedics, emergency care assistants, call handlers and other staff will strike on December 21 and 28 from 00:01 until 23:59 on those dates.

Workers across the ambulance services and some NHS Trusts have voted to strike over the government’s imposed four per cent pay award - another massive real terms pay cut say the GMB.

GMB representatives will now meet with health chiefs to discuss requirements for life and limb cover.

Rachel Harrison, GMB national secretary said: “Ambulance workers – like other NHS workers – are on their knees.

“Demoralised and downtrodden, they’ve faced 12 years of Conservative cuts to the service and their pay packets, fought on the frontline of a global pandemic and now face the worst cost of living crisis in a generation.

“No one in the NHS takes strike action lightly – today shows just how desperate they are.

“This is as much about unsafe staffing levels and patient safety as it is about pay. A third of GMB ambulance workers think delays they’ve been involved with have led to the death of a patient.

“Something has to change or the service as we know it will collapse.

“GMB calls on the government to avoid a winter of NHS strikes by negotiating a pay award that these workers deserve.”