LONDON – British labour union Unite said ambulance workers would go on strike in February and March in the latest sign of the deepening dispute between the government and healthcare workers over pay.

Unite said ambulance workers in England would walk out of their jobs on Feb 6, 17, 20 and 22, and on March 6 and 20.

The new dates will add to fears for the safe running of Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) on Feb 6, when other health-related unions, including the Royal College of Nursing, are also staging industrial action.

Britain has been hit by a wave of labour strikes over the last six months, its worst in a generation, with walkouts by rail workers, teachers and postal staff demanding higher wages as inflation surges.

Unite, which also said it was balloting more ambulance staff in different parts of Britain, said the government needed to negotiate over current pay if it wanted to end the industrial action.

“The government’s constant attempts to kick the can down the road and its talk about one-off payments, or slightly increased pay awards in the future, is simply not sufficient to resolve this dispute,” Unite lead officer Onay Kasab said in a statement on Friday.

Members from a different union, the GMB, which represents ambulance and other healthcare workers, including emergency care assistants, are already planning strikes on Feb 6 and 20, on March 6 and 20.

Britain’s Department of Health and Social Care said in an e-mailed statement it was disappointed by news of further strikes, adding discussions with unions over pay for the 2023-24 period were “constructive”.

“Ambulance workers do an incredible job, and it is disappointing some union members are going ahead with further strikes at a time when the NHS is already under huge pressure from Covid, flu and tackling the backlog,” said a spokesman. REUTERS