Working a day every week for free at the Environment Agency

“We’re not going to get jam tomorrow. We might get a piece of stale bread, but we won’t have any jam to spread on it, that’s for sure.” You could be forgiven for thinking, given all the headlines about dead fish off Britain’s east coast, sewage in the country’s rivers and seas and increased flooding due to climate change, that the role of the Environment Agency in England would be considered vital. Unfortunately, the Conservative government seems to think otherwise. Recent policy announcements and the bill to scrap absolutely any regulation that has felt the breath of the EU on it reveal an administration that is happy to rip up a raft of environmental protections in the chase for ‘growth’ and some sort of ‘Brexit Brucie Bonus’. So it’s not difficult to imagine how Environment Agency staff might be treated in such a context. Working one day in five for nothing Jackie Hamer, the chair of the UNISON Environment Agency sector committee, has worked for the agency and its predecessor organisations for almost 37 years, going back to the days of the old water authorities, before water privatisation. “I originally started working in fisheries research,” she explains, “but for the last 15 years, I have been a senior environment officer, specialising in agriculture. I support people in my team – part of a specialist agriculture team – giving them technical advice and technical leadership.” Farming is subject to a range of different regulations, so Ja...
Source: UNISON Health care news - Category: UK Health Authors: Tags: Article News climate change environment agency Environment Agency ballot 2022 flooding water environment and transport Source Type: news