THE WEEK leading up to Christmas will see members of several unions striking as part of separate ongoing disputes over pay and conditions.

Health, transport, and postal services are among those that will be affected over the coming days due to industrial action.

Here is a round-up of all the strike action, and how it will affect you.

Ambulance staff

Ambulance workers across Wales will be on strike on three days over the Christmas period.

Members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) who work for the Welsh Ambulance Service NHS Trust will strike for a second say on Tuesday, December 20.

And ambulance staff who are members of the GMB union will be striking on Wednesday, December 21 and Wednesday, December 28.

The ambulance service said a deal had been agreed to maintain some services for emergencies, although services would be “significantly affected”.

Nurses

Across Wales and England, members of the RCN will be walking out for the second time – after last Thursday’s strike – over concerns about pay and patient safety.

However, nurses in the Aneurin Bevan University Health Board region will not be on strike, after only 49.6 per cent of members voted in the ballot – meaning the 50 per cent turnout threshold was not met.

Some services in affected areas are exempt from strike action and will run as normal – including chemotherapy, dialysis, intensive care and high dependency units, neonatal intensive care, paediatric intensive care, and accident and emergency departments.

Rail workers

Transport for Wales announced on Friday that it had agreed a pay deal which saw members of the National Union of Rail, Maritime, and Transport Workers (RMT) rewarded with between a 6.6 per cent and 9.5 per cent pay rise.

However, although Transport for Wales was not involved in the industrial action, rail services are expected to still see disruption due to the ongoing dispute between the unions and Network Rail.

This means services will not be able to operate on Network Rail infrastructure from December 24 to 27.

Transport for Wales said services will finish earlier than normal on December 24 and start later on December 27 due to the strikes, and there are no services on December 25 and 26.

Postal workers

In the lead up to Christmas, more than 115,000 postal workers will be on strike after the latest breakdown in talks between the Communication Workers Union (CWU) and Royal Mail.

CWU members will be striking on Friday, December 23 and Saturday, December 24.

Border force workers

The Public and Commercial Service (PCS) union has announced Civil Service industrial action that will impact Border Force services.

These strikes have been set for Friday, December 23 until around 7am on Boxing Day, then again from Wednesday, December 28 until around 7am on New Year’s Eve.

The six airports affected by the strikes are Cardiff Airport, Heathrow Airport (Terminals 2,3,4 and 5), Gatwick Airport, Birmingham Airport, Glasgow Airport, and Manchester Airport, as well as the ferry port at the Port of Newhaven.

Driving examiners

And in the New Year, driving examiners based in Newport and Monmouth are among those who will be walking out as part of the planned PCS union strikes.

The strikes are taking place this week in the north-west of England, Yorkshire and the Humber, and the week after Christmas in the east of England, the midlands, and parts of London.  

From Wednesday, January 4 to Tuesday, January 10, examiners based in London, the south of England, and Wales are set to strike.