page_title: 1989–90 British ambulance strike
section_title: Strike
hierarchical_section_title: 1989–90 British ambulance strike / Strike
caption_attribution_description: English: The Honorable Leslie ’Les“ Aspin (right), U.S. Secretary of Defense, poses for a picture with Malcolm Rifkind, United Kingdom Defense Minister, at the Pentagon, Washington, D.C., on April 21, 1993. OSD Package No. A07D-00185 (DOD Photo by Robert D. Ward) (Released)
context_page_description: The 1989–90 British ambulance strike was part of a dispute over pay between ambulance crews and the government with action lasting from 7 September 1989 to 23 February 1990. Ambulance workers were aggrieved that their pay had fallen behind that of firefighters, with which it had been linked in 1985. A government pay offer of 7.5% was rejected by the five ambulance workers unions who demanded a 25.8% rise. Union action started with an overtime ban but escalated to a full refusal of crews to attend non-emergency calls in November. The government used the British Army, volunteer ambulances and the police to mitigate the effects of the strike. A pay deal of 16.9% was reached on 23 February 1990 and the ambulance crews returned to work. The strike was regarded as a success for the union, who had carefully cultivated public opinion throughout.
context_section_description: The government responded to the union escalation by threatening to dock the pay of crews who refused to carry out non-emergency work or to suspend them.  The unions then advised that if any member was suspended then all members in that ambulance service should declare themselves as suspended.  However the union asked that these members continue to provide an emergency service, though they would be unpaid.
  In London some 2,500 ambulance workers, responsible for 455 ambulances in 71 depots, were suspended by 7 November.  The government thought that allowing ambulance workers to continue to respond to emergency calls on an unpaid basis would be bad publicity and the police and army were called in to provide emergency coverage.  The first army ambulances were deployed on 8 November in London and, together with police and volunteer ambulance crews, ran 51 vehicles that day.  This marked the first occasion that army ambulances had been used since the Winter of Discontent.
  In Glasgow ambulance crews voted, by a narrow margin and against the advice of their union officials, for an all-out strike from 1 December, including the withdrawal of an emergency response.  The strike lasted until 3 December and Scottish Secretary Malcolm Rifkind arranged for 30 army ambulances to provide emergency cover based out of Territorial Army (TA) drill halls.  These, and police-manned ambulances, had responded to 200 calls by the early hours of 2 December.  Rifkind alleged that the crews in Edinburgh had also refused to respond to emergency calls, though the crews disputed this.
  By December the British Army were providing emergency ambulance services in Lincolnshire, Hertfordshire, Derbyshire and South Yorkshire.  In Surrey Royal Navy and Royal Air Force drivers were also used, alongside ambulances single-crewed by ambulance service managers, to provide a service based out of police stations and TA drill halls.
  The ambulance unions attempted to reopen negotiations by dropping demands for a cut to working hours, additional leave and further long service perks.  The government refused to make any compromises and, with few options left the unions carried out further action in January.  Crews were instructed to refuse calls put through by the ambulance service and to only respond to those made directly by the police, medical services and general public.  The unions hoped this would require the deployment of more army ambulances and swing public opinion behind them.  The unions asked the public to demonstrate support for the strike by lining the streets at mid-day on 30 January.  At around this time some union members lost patience and crews in West Sussex, Manchester and North-West London went on wildcat strikes of all services; a London-wide strike was narrowly averted at a meeting of shop stewards.  In other places ambulance crews began to drift back to work.
caption: Malcolm Rifkind, pictured in 1993
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