Environment Agency staff begin 36 hours of action over pay, says UNISON

Thousands of Environment Agency employees begin to ramp up their dispute over pay today (Tuesday) as they begin a further period of industrial action, including a 12-hour strike, says UNISON. The union is urging the government to stop ignoring the Environment Agency’s “invisible workforce” and begin talks to increase the woeful wages of staff. Poor pay is forcing increasing numbers to leave essential roles controlling pollution and protecting communities from weather disasters, says UNISON. From 7pm today (Tuesday), Environment Agency workers belonging to UNISON will start a 12-hour period of action short of strike, which will see key staff withdraw from emergency incident rotas. This is in addition to an ongoing work-to-rule where staff, who also work in river inspection, flood forecasting, and coastal risk management do only their contracted hours. At 7am tomorrow (Wednesday), employees who are UNISON members begin a 12-hour strike, followed immediately by a further period of action short of strike continuing until 7am on Thursday. Workers represented by the Prospect union will also be taking the same action. Disruption could be paused in an instant if the government stepped in to enable talks to begin and put an improved wage offer on the table, says UNISON. A recent survey by UNISON found more than a quarter (26%) of Environment Agency staff are considering leaving in the coming year. Of these, more than half (54%) said their main reason for wanting t...
Source: UNISON Health and safety news - Category: Occupational Health Authors: Tags: News Press release Environment agency strike Source Type: news