Stornoway coastguards on strike 20/7/08
Stornoway coastguard control centre is being run with only a skeleton staff as watch assistants go on strike.
The 48-hour industrial action will leave the rescue co-ordination station short-handed until tomorrow.
Members of the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) want a pay rise to reflect the importance of their work and to equalises wages with other emergency workers.
The PCS said it understood that the Royal Navy have been put on standby to provide cover for 999 maritime distress calls across the country
The latest action follows three days of strike action this year and comes as pay levels in the MCA fall way behind those paid to other emergency services.
The union said the refusal to implement the findings of studies saying that their pay should be the same as other emergency services has left staff feeling betrayed and let down.
Staff are also furious over pay levels, where coastguard watch assistants, who actively participate in search planning and other duties in response to 999 calls, only earn the national minimum wage.
The union pointed out that with starting salaries of £ 12,097, staff in the MCA have also been expected to stomach a pay cut in real terms with pay rises averaging just 2.5% for many and the most experienced staff receiving pay increases of less than 1%.
Mark Serwotka, PCS general secretary, said: “The strong support for this week’s industrial action demonstrates the depth of anger over the government’s policy of pay cuts and pay freezes.
"It is totally unacceptable that civil and public servants doing vital jobs, such as coastguard watch assistants, should earn just above the minimum wage and be faced with pay cuts in real terms.
“A quarter of the civil service earns less than £16,500 and it is a discredited myth that their pay fuels inflation and will plunge the country into a 1970’s inflationary wage spiral if they are paid fairly.
“A quarter of the civil service earns less than £16,500 and it is a discredited myth that their pay fuels inflation and will plunge the country into a 1970’s inflationary wage spiral if they are paid fairly.
"These are real people with families and mouths to feed who are being penalised by the government’s unjust and immoral policy on pay.
"With more industrial unrest next week, the government need to review its policy of below inflation pay and recognise that it is unfairly hitting hardworking families.”
The government is implementing strict limits on public sector pay increase and is refusing to make an exemption for coastguard watch officers.
