Ambulance workers across the North West have voted to strike - after nurses also announced they would be walking out in December.
More than 1,500 ambulance workers have voted to strike across the region. The GMB union, which represents ambulance workers, said: "No one in the health service takes strike action lightly - today shows just how desperate they are."
Paramedics, emergency care assistants, call handlers and other staff will walk out. Workers across the ambulance service and some NHS trusts have voted to strike over the government's imposed 4% pay award.
READ MORE: Nurses across Liverpool to strike on two days next month as one says 'we're in dire straits'
GMB has called it a "massive real terms pay cut." GMB will now meet with representatives in the coming days to discuss potential strike dates before Christmas.
The announcement comes just a day after the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) said their members would walk out on two days next month. Union members from all the NHS trusts in Merseyside will walk out on December 15 and 20. The strikes will be the largest industrial action the profession has ever seen.
In relation to the ambulance strikes, Rachel Harrison, GMB's 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."
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