As previously reported on Liverpool Indymedia, the dispute began when the employers double-crossed workers over a pay review they said would be 'binding on all parties'. When the review gave them the 'wrong' answer, the employers used a range of spoiling tactics in an attempt to enforce lower rates for ambulance technicians.

The Ambulance Service Union originally called the walk-out after a ballot of its 200 members. Now the Ambulance Service Union (ASU) has said it will strike later this week, on Friday and Saturday nights.

It means employers will again have to rely on help from managers and paramedic trainers, along with volunteers from St John's Ambulance and staff from elsewhere in the North West, to maintain ambulance services to the public.

The ASU fears technicians will be placed in Band 4, on a salary of £19,000 each, a cut for some as they currently earn anywhere between £19,000 and £21,070.

The union wants to see them placed at the bottom of Band 5, on £21,118, with a full 25% un-social hours bonus. If they are placed on Band 4, their overall rise would effectively work out at a total 14% including the un-social hours bonus, for those who qualify for the full amount.

Ambulance Service Union official Ray Carrick said the strikes had been called after failure of talks with the Department of Health.

He said: "The weekend is the time when the employers find it the most difficult, in an administrative sense, to make arrangements, which is the object of the exercise whilst trying to minimise the impact to the public."

A spokesman for the North West Ambulance Service said: "The majority of staff will again be on duty and every effort is being made to resolve the issue."

It is the first time ambulance staff have been on strike in Merseyside for more than 20 years.

Ambulance workers don't take strike action lightly, knowing how important their jobs are to the welfare of the general public. However, it is precisely because they serve us all so well that we should support them against their employers' dodgy dealings.