nick1568
New member
Hi everyone,
This is my first post on here, and I have an ulterior motive which I hope you all forgive me for.
I would like to urge everyone who has an interest in diving or indeed in enjoying the coast of the UK in any way whatsoever to have a read of the following.
I work at a busy South Coast MRCC and just want to let the wider community know about some of the issues that are currently/about to affect our work.
I'm sure I don't have to spell out the service that HM Coastguard provides to the yachting community, or indeed anyone else in trouble. But it may surprise people to know that after almost a year of training and hours of professional exams the junior grade of coastguard earns £5.46 an hour. That equates to just under £12,000 a year annual salary. Not surprisingly this doesn't compare to well with other emergency service control staff (Fire start on £19000), and the guys and girls are more than a little bit disgruntled. Combined with an ever increasing workload and a Search and Rescue coordination role that is much more in depth than any other emergency services control room, there is a little scope for a pay rise, we feel anyway. I could actually earn more tossing burgers for 37hrs a week rather than the 42 I do for the Coastguard.
For a long time (3 years) we have been promised one sort of pay increase or another, none of which have materialised. There fore people are starting to seek other means of raising our profile. For about 2 months now we have been "working to rule" not completing various bits of paperwork and the like which don't impact on the public but we hoped would affect management. So far it seems to have had little effect. It seems likely that its only a matter of time before this "strike" action escalates and Coastguard stations around the coast take more drastic action and shut or only respond to distress radio traffic and 999 calls.
None of us want to go down this road, I for one am ex forces and am not even in the union (mainly because the dues are equal to my years car tax!). We are certainly not militant or combative by nature, we just feel grossly under valued. I hope people out there realise this and support us in our efforts to earn a half decent living.
I ask that if anyone wishes to support our cause they follow the link below and hopefully make your voice count.
http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Coastguard/
It doesn't seem right that the person who takes your Mayday call gets paid less than the pereson who asks if you want chips with your Bigmac!
Many thanks for reading this and taking the time to participate.
Thanks again
Nick
This is my first post on here, and I have an ulterior motive which I hope you all forgive me for.
I would like to urge everyone who has an interest in diving or indeed in enjoying the coast of the UK in any way whatsoever to have a read of the following.
I work at a busy South Coast MRCC and just want to let the wider community know about some of the issues that are currently/about to affect our work.
I'm sure I don't have to spell out the service that HM Coastguard provides to the yachting community, or indeed anyone else in trouble. But it may surprise people to know that after almost a year of training and hours of professional exams the junior grade of coastguard earns £5.46 an hour. That equates to just under £12,000 a year annual salary. Not surprisingly this doesn't compare to well with other emergency service control staff (Fire start on £19000), and the guys and girls are more than a little bit disgruntled. Combined with an ever increasing workload and a Search and Rescue coordination role that is much more in depth than any other emergency services control room, there is a little scope for a pay rise, we feel anyway. I could actually earn more tossing burgers for 37hrs a week rather than the 42 I do for the Coastguard.
For a long time (3 years) we have been promised one sort of pay increase or another, none of which have materialised. There fore people are starting to seek other means of raising our profile. For about 2 months now we have been "working to rule" not completing various bits of paperwork and the like which don't impact on the public but we hoped would affect management. So far it seems to have had little effect. It seems likely that its only a matter of time before this "strike" action escalates and Coastguard stations around the coast take more drastic action and shut or only respond to distress radio traffic and 999 calls.
None of us want to go down this road, I for one am ex forces and am not even in the union (mainly because the dues are equal to my years car tax!). We are certainly not militant or combative by nature, we just feel grossly under valued. I hope people out there realise this and support us in our efforts to earn a half decent living.
I ask that if anyone wishes to support our cause they follow the link below and hopefully make your voice count.
http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Coastguard/
It doesn't seem right that the person who takes your Mayday call gets paid less than the pereson who asks if you want chips with your Bigmac!
Many thanks for reading this and taking the time to participate.
Thanks again
Nick
