UK coastguards to strike next week

The first strike in the history of the UK coastguard will be held on 6 March for 24 hours.

At the centre of the dispute is the view that coastguard pay rates have fallen well behind those of other emergency services. The strike is about pay and up to 700 employees of the Maritime & Coastguard Agency will participate. It will affect the operations at 19 UK search and rescue centres and have an impact on emergency calls. It will not affect staff called out to cope with emergencies. The staffs are members of the Public & Commercial Services and the Prospect unions. The vote of the PCS members was 91% in favour of strike action. The key issues are actual pay levels and the fact that coastguards have slipped back in comparison with other emergency services such as police and ambulance. The base salary of a coastguard watch assistant is £12,097 ($23,974) which is around 25-30% below other emergency services as far as comparisons can be made. This dispute has running for 18 months already. If it is not settled, further one-day strikes will be held.

Read More