Another Coastguard Strike

[Woodentop]

After their first ever strike on Thursday 6 March, Her Majesty's Coastguard will be doing it again on Friday 11 April for 24 hours from 0700.

The "gripe" is that Coastguard Operations Room Staff have been given the wrong grading in the Civil Service. The tasks/skills/responsibilities of a Coastguard bear no relation to the job description of a Civil Servant at the same grade in a different department. (At the risk of boring you, the Coastguard Watch Assistant that answers your Mayday call is paid 2p over the National Minimum Wage, after a year's training.)

This has been confirmed by two separate studies commissioned by the MCA over the last five years.

It is not a demand for more pay but a request to be put in the correct Civil Service grade.

Some MP's have grasped this and Early Day Motion 950 and Early day Motion 1188 refer.

A meeting had been scheduled by the union with the Chief Executive of the MCA for this Thursday but he is on holiday in the Caribbean.

(Another strike is scheduled for 23/24 April when it is hoped he will be back in the country.)

 

[chanelyacht]

Additionally, independent studies which the MCA had agreed to honour showed the ops room staff should be on a parity with police / fire control operators, which would mean an extra £3k per year.
Suddenly the MCA weren't so keen on honouring studies.
I don't think we should be too harsh on the poor chief exec for being in the Caribbean though - hopefully he's on a cruise, which will at least mean he's been on a ship for the first time in his career!

 

[alldownwind]

[ QUOTE ]
...........A meeting had been scheduled by the union with the Chief Executive of the MCA for this Thursday but he is on holiday in the Caribbean.......................

[/ QUOTE ]
Sorry but it seems fairly unlikely to me that 'a meeting had been scheduled' with the CEO if he was going to be away on holiday! That sounds like a bit of union news management.
I do support the CGs in their endeavour, though, and I'm a volunteer CG myself.

 

[Scotsnomad]

Well the icon says it all.....

As a serving member of the MCA and also a Coastguard I felt that after reading various articles regarding the forthcoming strike that I need to clarify some of the information put out by the MCA with regards to the forthcoming strike.

After the first strike in our history most, if not all, Coastguard hoped that both the Government and the MCA would move towards constructive talks to remedy the situation and yet todate we have had nothing from either side.

The Coastguard staff throughout have not relished the thought of having to take this drastic action but we were forced into it by the Executives boards inactions. The first strike was 'covered' by contingency plans, plans that which if you looked at closely fell well short of any adequate coverage and one could wonder at some of the staff who manned the various stations around the coast during the first 24 hr period. The actions of burying their head in the sand is only fooling themselves and god forbid if anyone is injured over any future action, not that we want that to happen and have stated from the instance that if necessary we would break our own strike lines to assist in any emergencies.

The MCA are stating again that they will have contingency plans in force, if these are really investigated they would prove how bad they are. We have and still do, continue to wait any response from the Agency regarding our claim for fair pay parity with the rest of the Emergency services and no one step has been taken by the agency to make mends. If anyone is affected by the actions of the Coastguard staff well Im sure that the public and the Maritime industry know that the ultimate blame lies firmly between the MCA and the Goverment.

It does little to help the claims of the staff when we have a Chief executive who does little to help the cause but inflames it with wild and rash statements such as those in Lloyds list calling us nothing more than Communications workers...Does this show someone who truely respects the work that his staff does - I think not. Mr Cardy has already received one vote of no confidence from the Senior Managements Union, maybe he is looking for one from the PCS also?

We have had our case heard in Parliament, we have a lot of MP's & MSP support for our cause, they, like others are disgusted that we have to live on Burger pay levels for the amount of work that we do. We will continue to seek our parity with the other services, we might be the unknown emergency service to most but we are always there 24/7 to help those in need and we work through to the satisfactory conclusion and return members to the safe arms of their relatives.

If like many you are fully understanding of our actions then please convey our reasons to those who might not be so that they understand that we not taking this action to hurt those whom we support.


We would ask that the members of the public and the Maritime industry please bear with us during this period, our claim throughout has not been to cause problems to others but having tried every possible action we were left with no other course than strike action. An action that the MCA did not think we would take but support and feeling is that strong now.

Yes we are going on strike for two days, the 11th April from 0700 hrs for 24 hrs and alson on the 24, starting at 1900 hrs on the 23rd until 1900 hrs on the 24th.

For the 3 days prior to each day we are also having to resort to taking further work to rule action by answering 999 calls, Emergency and distress calls only. So anyone in difficulty will get a response, however normal stuff like weather broadcasts, tidal information, maritime queries will not be answered. Im sure though that being consciensious you are likely to get your request answered.

We have kept an open door to the MCA for further discussions however not one word was received from the MCA.

Please do not lose heart at your local Coastguard for the actions that we have been forced to take but try to understand why we have had to take it. If you contact your local station and ask for a petition form to enable us to gain more public support to our claim for pay parity, anyone wishing to have one of these forms can contact me and I will send them a link to a site where one is downloadable from an unofficial Coastguard site.

Once again I would like to apologise for any bother this strike is having upon your happy sailings but we honestly never wanted to take this action but were left with no further avenue to follow.

 

[Phoenix of Hamble]

I think you'll find that the vast majority of us are well and truly behind you, so I wouldn't get hung up on the "Once again I would like to apologise for any bother this strike is having upon your happy sailings "

 

[jimbaerselman]

Surely, the best way to handle an underpaid job is to vote with your feet? Find an alternative - perhaps with other, better paid emergency services?

 

[chanelyacht]

Gordon,
You have PM.

 

[Phoenix of Hamble]

But what if its a job that you like, is close to home, and one you've trained for a long time....

 

[chanelyacht]

[ QUOTE ]
Surely, the best way to handle an underpaid job is to vote with your feet? Find an alternative - perhaps with other, better paid emergency services?

[/ QUOTE ]

So the best way to keep a good service then is to drive out those who have ability which is rewarded higher by others?

 

[pmyatt]

I may have got the wrong end of the stick, but surely the way forward has got to be something modeled along American lines, i.e., the Coastguard is a home branch of the Navy. With such a structure it could have a greater role in home security, and customs/excise patrolling offshore, along with its present role - or am I being naive?

 

[jimbaerselman]

[ QUOTE ]
But what if its a job that you like, is close to home, and one you've trained for a long time....

[/ QUOTE ] Quite. There are trade-offs. People don't have to join . . . and the unions talk about low wages, but often don't mention final salary pensions and other public service benefits when they're talking to the media.

 

[jimbaerselman]

[ QUOTE ]
So the best way to keep a good service then is to drive out those who have ability which is rewarded higher by others?

[/ QUOTE ] Doesn't follow. You don't drive. They choose because they know they can do better.

My assumption is that when you have no difficulties recruiting and retaining staff (which I thing is true of the coast guard service), then there's no need to improve your terms of service. If retaining staff is a problem (cos they vote with their feet) you have to solve the problem. Simple really.

No need for unions, who work only for the employed, trying to up their slice of the cake. When it's the un-employed who need the help.

Sorry, this is getting into lounge territory.

 

[Woodentop]

[ QUOTE ]
I may have got the wrong end of the stick, but surely the way forward has got to be something modeled along American lines, i.e., the Coastguard is a home branch of the Navy. With such a structure it could have a greater role in home security, and customs/excise patrolling offshore, along with its present role - or am I being naive?

[/ QUOTE ]

An interesting question. In the US the CG is firstly a law enforcement organisation.

In the UK the CG has always been only rescue, under a variety of commands. At one time Admiralty and for last 100 years (roughly) under the Board of Trade/Dept for Transport (Government Depts change names too frequently nowadays) as part of the Shipping interests of the government.

In some ways it is a pity that Customs and Excise were merged with Inland Revenue since what you seem to be hinting at is an organisation merging Customs, Coastguard and Immigration

 

[chanelyacht]

With current under-resourcing and political meddling in the navy, that doesn't look a good option.
Over here things are different - SAR is handled by CROSS, with a mix of naval and civvy operators. Additionally, the Prefet Maritime for each area works with the French navy semaphore stations (coastal lookouts) to prevent incidents and deal with marine crime (handled by the Gendarmerie). A bit like merging HMCG with the volunteer NCI in the UK.
Personally I think the best model for HMCG would be along these lines, but this would be a major turnaround for a civil service that has long maintained that visial and radar watch is not necessary.

 

[graham]

You certainly have my backing. People go on about your pension scheme.Sure its a valuable assett but not much help to someone struggling to pay the day to day bills.Its a disgrace that it has come to this ,You guys only want what you deserve and parity with similar workers.

 

[pmyatt]

I agree that merging law enforcement with SAR may seem anomalous - but with a coherent land and sea based force it would certainly cure the present problem that the Coastguard currently faces - apparently low government esteem.

 

[Athene V30]

You have my support too.

For maximum impact how about a strike on a Bank Holiday? However I doubt you would want to impose the risks to the safety of the general public of not being there for them.

Good Luck.

 

[Woodentop]

[ QUOTE ]
I agree that merging law enforcement with SAR may seem anomalous - but with a coherent land and sea based force it would certainly cure the present problem that the Coastguard currently faces - apparently low government esteem.

[/ QUOTE ]

Did I say that ? Although it is not my current opinion I can see a logic in drawing together all the agencies with a maritime interest (Coastguard, Customs, Immigration, Fisheries) into one. But just think of the power they would have ! They could board anything anywhere !

 

[pmyatt]

They can anyway. I was merely suggesting a route which would give the Coastguard greater status in the eyes of the Government and help the present issue of low pay.

 

[Scotsnomad]

[ QUOTE ]
My assumption is that when you have no difficulties recruiting and retaining staff (which I thing is true of the coast guard service), then there's no need to improve your terms of service. If retaining staff is a problem (cos they vote with their feet) you have to solve the problem. Simple really.


[/ QUOTE ]

Well sorry to disappoint you but the MCA have since they introduced the CWA grade with Focus for change have always had a retention problem. We lose in the region of 10 - 15 pct of CWA's within the first two years. Fair enough, the first year is taken up training the CWA to the required standard, a lot of investment wouldnt you say? The second year is consolidating their training whilst looking for another job. Normally they would look towards the other Emergency services since their work does not carry as much co-ordination and responsibility, shorter hours and still the pay is more than they get in the MCA. The MCA have known this for years but refuse to grasp the real reason for these large turnovers and restart the whole process again. The basic underlying problems remains and will continue to remain 'pay' if they resolved this information we would not have take strike action, the MCA would not have a staff retention problem and we could continue providing the highest possible standard......that is unless you want someone with little knowledge of nautical matters dealing with your problem.......

Someone who doesnt understand that different types of ships have different characteristics, someone who doesnt understand the problems that are being encountered during adverse weather whilst dealing with a problem onboard......

At this moment in time if people took your attitude and walked well im afraid that we wouldnt have a Coastguard Service, and there would be no one to respond to your calls for assistance. I have 18 years experience in the Coastguard and have seen it change, in fact in the MCA I have seen them re-invent the wheel again lol (Going from one system to another and then back to the origianl)....

No for the first time in our history HMCG are standing together and saying enough is enough, hopefully this will be the first and last time we ever take such action.......

My only fear after this dispute is that the MCA dont turn around and say that they are going to close stations.......That is my biggest worry....They are at present stating that there are no intentions, but mark my word this will happen, we have already heard mention of 18 stations (Not including the School) being reduced to 10.....