Ambulance workers on Merseyside will strike later this month.
More than 1,500 workers at the North West and North East ambulance service trusts will walk out on December 21 and 28 in a row over pay, according to union GMB. Workers across the ambulance services and some NHS Trusts have voted to strike over the government’s imposed 4% pay award - a pay cut in real terms.
GMB representatives will now meet with North West Ambulance Service ( NWAS ) to discuss requirements for life and limb cover. Paramedics, emergency care assistants, call handlers and other staff will strike on the two days.
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Additionally, union Unite has said more than 1,600 people who work at the West Midlands, North West and North East ambulance service trusts will strike on December 21. Unite’s ambulance workers voted by up to 92% for strike action. Throughout the strike, Unite will maintain essential emergency cover for patients.
Sharon Graham, Unite general secretary, said: “Make no mistake, we are now in the fight of our lives for the very NHS itself. These strikes are a stark warning – our members are taking a stand to save our NHS from this government.
“Patients’ lives are already at risk but this government is sitting on the sidelines, dodging its responsibility to sort out the crisis that it has created.
“Ministers can’t keep hiding behind the pay review body. They know full well it does not address the desperate need to get huge numbers of NHS workers off the breadline.
“Fail to act now to avert these strikes and the blame will rest firmly at the government’s door.”
Rachel Harrison, GMB National Secretary, said: “Ambulance workers – like other NHS workers – are on their knees.
“Demoralised and downtrodden, they’ve faced twelve years Conservative cuts to the service and their pay packets, fought on the frontline of a global pandemic and now face the worst cost of living crisis in a generation.
“No one in the NHS takes strike action lightly – today shows just how desperate they are.
“This is as much about unsafe staffing levels and patient safety as it is about pay. A third of GMB ambulance workers think delays they’ve been involved with have led to the death of a patient.
“Something has to change or the service as we know it will collapse.
“GMB calls on the Government to avoid a Winter of NHS strikes by negotiating a pay award that these workers deserve.”
North West Ambulance Service has been contacted for comment.
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