UK ambulance workers walk out, joining wave of strike action

By SYLVIA HUI
Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — Around 25,000 U.K. ambulance workers have gone on strike, walking out for the second time since December in an ongoing dispute with the government over pay. The industrial action by paramedics, drivers and call handlers was the latest in a wave of strikes in recent months that has severely disrupted the country’s rail network and strained the U.K.’s overburdened public health system. Health officials say ambulances will still respond to life-threatening emergencies but some people will need to make their own way to hospitals. Wednesday’s strike is part of a wider wave of industrial action as scores demand better salaries as inflation soars. Union leaders say some of the lowest-paid public health workers are close to falling below the national minimum wage.