Some 500 national ambulance service workers staged a ten-hour strike which caused a lot of disruption. During the work stoppage they only responded to emergency situations that might be life threatening. The ambulance workers, that are organised in the Psychiatric Nurses Association (PNA), are having a dispute with their employer over union representation rights. As a result of the strike action government deployed emergency defence forces ambulances and paramedics to help provide services for patients. Trade unions SIPTU, UNITE and FORSA are recognised as parties representing the national ambulance workers but members of PNA state that they were not feeling represented by these unions and therefore they want their new union to be a recognised negotiating partner as well.
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For more information, please contact the editor Jan Cremers or Sanne van der Gaag, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS) cbn-aias@uva.nl or the Head of communications at the ETUI, Willy De Backer wdebacker@etui.org © ETUI