Coastguards man picket lines in 13-hour strike over pay offer

Mar 7 2008 by Richard Down, Liverpool Daily Post

PICKETING coastguards manned a 13-hour presence outside Crosby control centre yesterday demanding a complete restructuring of pay scales.

Their protest, which began at 7am and ended at 8pm, was the first time coastguards have taken industrial action.

It resulted in a “partner centre in Dorset” overseeing the Merseyside waters.

The strikers were among 700 members of the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) working for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) on strike.

The one-day stoppage hit emergency 999 distress calls and operations in the UK’s 19 rescue co-ordination centres, including Blundellsands, Crosby.

Protestors argue that Government and management have refused to implement the findings of studies which underline their status as a fully fledged emergency service.

Staff are also furious that with starting salaries of £12,097, staff have also been expected to accept a pay cut in real terms – with pay rises averaging just 2.5%.

Mark Serwotka, PCS general secretary, said: “The strike is not a step our members have taken lightly. They feel let down and betrayed by a refusal to pay them the same as other emergency services and by below inflation pay rises.

“Coastguards provide a vital emergency service and ensure the safety of shipping in British waters. It is a scandal that pay rates are so low and that watch assistants who help save lives should get a special pay rise to bring them up to the level of the national minimum wage.

MCA spokesman Richard Wilson said: “We’re having to live within our resources.

“Liverpool operated (yesterday) through a combination of measures.

“We utilised long-standing business continuity plans where our co-ordination centres are ‘paired’, allowing all the core functions of any centre to be carried out by its partner.”