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| NI strike: Union outrage as Ambulance Service declares 'major incident' | |
| (about 9 hours later) | |
| The Northern Ireland Ambulance Service has declared a "major incident", meaning Friday's industrial action by paramedics has been called off. | |
| The move came on Thursday night, with management saying they were forced to take the measure "to maintain a safe level of ambulance cover". | |
| However, unions have reacted angrily with Unite accusing management of "pulling a stunt". | |
| Unison accused described the move as "provocative". | |
| In a text to staff at 2340 GMT on Thursday, the Ambulance Service said: "Please be advised that a major incident has been declared due to critical levels of cover and in line with the guidance issued by your union you are expected to report for duty as normal." | |
| The Ambulance Service said it was "inundated" with calls saying staff would be striking. | |
| In a statement to the media, it said it had "exhausted all alternative contingency options, and lives would be at risk if we allowed the situation to deteriorate further". | |
| Due to previous agreements between management and unions, it means crews are required to turn up for duty on Friday. | |
| In a tweet, the Ambulance Service added: "Two cities and many towns without ambulance cover is the only reason NIAS declared major incident." | |
| John McPoland of the Ambulance Service said at midnight there were seven crews available for all emergencies across Northern Ireland. | |
| "If we hadn't have declared a major incident because the level of services had decreased so much, we would be left with a situation this morning, where rather than having to explain a major incident, I could have been in here trying to explain to some family why a child who was choking in Newtownabbey, a three-month-old child, had perhaps died," he said. | |
| "Last night we had no crews to respond to any emergencies in Belfast". | |
| 'No major incident' | |
| However, some paramedics described management's response as "despicable" and a "purely tactical measure". | |
| Ambulance crews had earlier agreed to respond only to 999 calls for cases that are life-threatening. | Ambulance crews had earlier agreed to respond only to 999 calls for cases that are life-threatening. |
| Patricia McKeown of the union, Unison, said the service's decision to "declare a major incident across the whole of Northern Ireland two hours in advance of strike action is provocative". | |
| "There are no indications that such a major incident exists," she said. | |
| "Ambulance staff have the right to strike and we will support our members who chose to exercise their right. By declaring a major incident NIAS has effectively binned the agreements reached earlier." | |
| She said the Ambulance Service move could be "irreparably damaging industrial relations". | |
| Kevin McAdam of Unite accused management of "pulling a stunt". | |
| "We advised our members to return to normal roles in response to the NIAS's action in line with undertakings we had given," he said. | |
| "The trade unions know now the facts on the ground: that there was no major incident, rather there was an inability and unwillingness for management to effectively manage the strike. | |
| "We are unhappy and disgusted by the NIAS cynically exploiting this part of the emergency cover understanding to thwart the industrial action." |