The GMB union has announced that more than 1,500 North West Ambulance workers will take part in five more days of strikes in the coming months.
The strikes will take place on January 24, February 6 and 20, and March 6 and 20. The union claims that the government has failed to provide an acceptable pay offer which has sparked the industrial action.
Meanwhile, more than 10,000 ambulance workers, including paramedcis, emergency care assistance, and call handlers, will be striking on the same dates in February and March. It comes as thousands of nurses staged a walkout on Wednesday and Thursday at more than 55 NHS trusts in England.
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Rachel Harrison, GMB National Secretary, said: “GMB’s ambulance workers are angry. In their own words ‘they are done’. Our message to the Government is clear - talk pay now.
“Ministers have made things worse by demonising the ambulance workers who provided life and limb cover on strike days - playing political games with their scaremongering. The only way to solve this dispute is a proper pay offer.
“But it seems the cold, dead hands of the Number 10 and 11 Downing Street are stopping this from happening. In the face of government inaction, we are left with no choice but industrial action. GMB ambulance workers are determined, they’re not going to back down. It’s up for this Government to get serious on pay. We are waiting.”
NHS Providers’ interim chief executive, Saffron Cordery, said: “Four more days of strikes by GMB ambulance staff will deal another blow to already overloaded health services. And now Unite is set to announce more ambulance strikes by its members.
“We understand the strength of feeling among NHS staff and nobody wants these strikes to happen. To stave off another wave of strikes and help the NHS, the Government must sit down with the unions urgently and address pay for the current financial year.
“Trusts plan and prepare for industrial action to support staff and do all they can to minimise the impact on patients and day-to-day business. But with incredibly high levels of A&E attendance and delays discharging patients from hospital beds severely hampering overstretched ambulance services, things are likely only to get worse if these strikes go ahead."
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