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 tha...
Source: UNISON Health care news - October 21, 2022 Category: UK Health Authors: Amanda Kendal Tags: Article News climate change environment agency Environment Agency ballot 2022 flooding water environment and transport Source Type: news
UNISON general secretary writes to the chancellor on civil service pay
UNISON general secretary Christina McAnea has written to Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor of the exchequer this week, warning of the impact that this year’s Civil Service Pay Remit Guidance is having on staff in three public bodies, and calling for its review.
The guidance, which was published on 31 March, governs pay setting arrangements throughout the civil service and within that, applies to: the Care Quality Commission (CQC), the Environment Agency (EA) and the Food Standards Agency (FSA) – where UNISON is the largest union.
In the letter to the chancellor and the chief secretary to the treasury, Ms McAnea argues that t...
Source: UNISON Health care news - October 21, 2022 Category: UK Health Authors: Simon Jackson Tags: Article News care quality commission environment agency food standards agency Source Type: news
Environment Agency condemned over pay imposition
UNISON has today condemned the decision of the Environment Agency (EA) to implement a 2% + £345 pay offer for staff while, at the same time, imposing worse terms in contracts for new workers joining the agency.
UNISON national secretary Donna Rowe-Merriman stated: “When this pay offer by the EA is implemented, workers will clearly see just how ineffective the award is at tackling the increasing cost of living.
“UNISON members are in serious need of an improved pay outcome. We are told that the decision on any improved offer lies with the government, and we urge them to intervene.
“Most EA workers have not had a sal...
Source: UNISON meat hygiene - October 20, 2022 Category: Food Science Authors: Amanda Kendal Tags: Article News environment agency water environment and transport Source Type: news
Blog: Taking our cost of living campaign to a wider audience
Last week, we launched the latest phase of our cost of living crisis campaign, Together We Rise. Turning outwards to the wider public, we’re bringing the message home to as many people as possible, that poverty is a choice made by the powerful.
You might have seen one of our poster billboards, shared some of our campaign graphics or our video on social media – or even encouraged one of your friends or colleagues to sign our petition calling on the prime minister to end the pay crisis. A pay crisis caused by the current government in Westminster.
After a summer of political inertia – and a chaotic recent few week...
Source: UNISON Health care news - October 11, 2022 Category: UK Health Authors: Christina McAnea Tags: Article General secretary's blog cost of living TUC lobby 2 November Source Type: news
Let ’ s rise up in Westminster on 2 November – in UNISON
UNISON is urging activists and members to lobby their MPs next month as part of the Together We Rise campaign.
Working with the TUC and other unions, UNISON is organising a lobby of the Westminster parliament on Wednesday 2 November, between 2-6pm.
This will be an opportunity for members to meet their MPs and tell them about the reality of the cost of living crisis.
Where relevant, it will also be an important opportunity to speak with MPs about current pay disputes and ballots in higher education, health, the Environment Agency and the Food Standards Agency.
Sign up here
The TUC will co-ordinate the lobby and arrange the ...
Source: UNISON meat hygiene - October 11, 2022 Category: Food Science Authors: Amanda Kendal Tags: Article News cost of living together we rise TUC lobby 2 November We demand better Source Type: news
Environment Agency staff start to vote on possible strike over pay, says UNISON
Environment Agency staff are being asked to vote for industrial action in a ballot that could see the first strike over pay in the organisation’s 26-year history, says UNISON today (Monday).
A strike ballot of several thousand Agency employees across England – including river inspectors, flood forecasting officers, coastal risk management officers, sewage plant attendants and staff maintaining the Thames Barrier – opens today. The vote closes in a month’s time.
Earlier in the year, Environment Agency staff voted to reject a pay offer of 2% and an additional £345. This is substantially less than the lowest measure ...
Source: UNISON Health care news - October 10, 2022 Category: UK Health Authors: Fatima Ayad Tags: News Press release Christina McAnea environment agency pay ballot Source Type: news
Improving lives means more than putting money in people ’ s pockets, says UNISON general secretary
Unleashing the potential in everyone and using the power of the collective to achieve that are the themes running through the annual Jimmy Reid Foundation lecture to be delivered by UNISON general secretary Christina McAnea in Glasgow later today (Thursday).
She will say: “It’s a huge privilege to be honouring one of Glasgow’s finest heroes. I heard Jimmy speak in the early 1970s in the Glasgow City halls. The place was packed to the rafters. I was about 15.
“He spoke for over an hour, but time passed in a flash. He had no notes as he walked up and down the stage, talking eloquently, with great passion. His dee...
Source: UNISON Health care news - October 6, 2022 Category: UK Health Authors: Fatima Ayad Tags: News Press release Christina McAnea Source Type: news
Improving lives means more than putting money in people ’ s pockets
Unleashing the potential in everyone and using the power of the collective to achieve that are the themes running through the annual Jimmy Reid Foundation lecture to be delivered by UNISON general secretary Christina McAnea in Glasgow later today (Thursday).
She will say: “It’s a huge privilege to be honouring one of Glasgow’s finest heroes. I heard Jimmy speak in the early 1970s in the Glasgow City halls. The place was packed to the rafters. I was about 15.
“He spoke for over an hour, but time passed in a flash. He had no notes as he walked up and down the stage, talking eloquently, with great passion. His de...
Source: UNISON Health care news - October 5, 2022 Category: UK Health Authors: Anthony Barnes Tags: News Press release Christina McAnea strikes Source Type: news
Government handing taxpayers ’ money to rich friends, while public services suffer
Speaking at the annual Labour Party conference in Liverpool today (Monday) about pay and public services, UNISON general secretary Christina McAnea said:
“This is the Tories’ latest attempt at reinventing themselves. From Theresa May’s strong and stable, to Liz Truss’ promise of a decade of dynamism.
“George Osborne demanded austerity and a balanced budget, now Kwasi Kwarteng wants to gamble billions of pounds to give the richest more money to play with.
“But while the rhetoric shifts, some things never change. Public services are run down, and their staff undervalued, underpaid and overwhelmed.
“In-work pov...
Source: UNISON meat hygiene - September 26, 2022 Category: Food Science Authors: Anthony Barnes Tags: News Press release labour conference Source Type: news
Citizen scientists to monitor English rivers in £7m scheme
Scheme gets under way as data suggests Environment Agency ’s own monitoring leaves rivers unprotectedCitizen scientists are being trained as the best hope to protect rivers from pollution and over-abstraction as data suggests the Environment Agency ’s new monitoring programme leaves waterways unprotected.A £7m programme to set up citizen science testing in 10 river catchments across England is under way in an attempt to standardise the way volunteers carry out the monitoring.Continue reading... (Source: Guardian Unlimited Science)
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - September 14, 2022 Category: Science Authors: Sandra Laville Environment correspondent Tags: Rivers Environment Environment Agency Science UK news England Source Type: news
Environment Agency staff overwhelmingly reject pay offer
Thousands of Environment Agency (EA) staff have voted in a consultation to overwhelmingly reject the current pay offer of 2% plus a £345 consolidated increase, together with increases to some allowances.
With inflation topping 10% and further increases on the way, the offer, together with an unconsolidated performance award, effectively represents a pay cut.
EA staff had asked for a pay increase above the rate of inflation after a 0% pay increase in 2021 and the current offer fell well short of those made to other public sector workers.
As frontline workers that protected communities and the environment throughout the p...
Source: UNISON Health care news - September 6, 2022 Category: UK Health Authors: Simon Jackson Tags: Article News cost of living environment agency Source Type: news
Blog: I urge members to make sure they have their say on pay
UNISON members working for the Environment Agency, together with Scottish health members, are being consulted on their respective pay offers.
If you’re an NHS worker in Scotland, you only have a few days left to have your say on the 5% pay offer. UNISON, along with other health unions, asked for an above inflation pay award, so we’re asking members to reject the pay deal.
For EA members, the consultative ballot that opened this week closes on 2 September. The agency is underfunded, and its workers are undervalued and underpaid.
I’ve said before that poverty is created by political choices – and pay is decided by c...
Source: UNISON meat hygiene - August 4, 2022 Category: Food Science Authors: Christina McAnea Tags: General secretary's blog News environment agency NHS pay Scotland WET Source Type: news
UNISON recommends that EA members reject ‘ insulting ’ offer
UNISON members working for the Environment Agency (EA) are being consulted on the latest pay offer, with the union recommending that they reject the employer’s offer of 2%, plus a £345 one-off consolidated payment, and take part in industrial action to seek improvements.
The offer falls short of the claim the EA unions jointly submitted in March this year and follows a 0% rise for most staff in 2021 after a decade of below inflation pay rises.
UNISON national secretary Donna Rowe-Merriman said: “EA Members are seeing this offer as an insult – especially as offers for other public sector workers are higher.
“The EA...
Source: UNISON Health care news - August 2, 2022 Category: UK Health Authors: Amanda Kendal Tags: Article News environment agency WET Source Type: news
Environment Agency pay offer is ‘simply not enough’, says UNISON
UNISON’s Environment Agency (EA) sector committee has recommended that members reject the latest pay offer from the agency, saying the offer is “simply not enough” to address the cost of living crisis.
Pay negotiations for 2022/23 with the EA concluded last week when a full and final offer was made that equated to an average increase of 2% plus £345 consolidated increase and some modest increases to allowances.
However, the offer falls far short of the claim the EA unions jointly submitted in March and, on top of that, most agency members got a 0% rise, last year, after a decade of below inflation pay rises.
A recen...
Source: UNISON meat hygiene - July 25, 2022 Category: Food Science Authors: Simon Jackson Tags: Article News environment agency Source Type: news
WET conference tackles fair pay and protecting our environment
In conclusion, the baroness said: “Green jobs and innovation will be at the heart of everything we [Labour] do. And your sectors, environment, water and transport will be at the heart of it as well.”
Environment Agency pay
After the speeches, UNISON vice president Kath Owen – chairing conference – introduced the business of the day. Delegates carried a wide range of motions, spanning bargaining and campaigning across each of the three sectors: water, environment and transport.
Motion six “Fair pay in the EA”, submitted by the WET SGE, called on the executive to increase the pressure on the Environment Agency (E...
Source: UNISON Health care news - June 13, 2022 Category: UK Health Authors: Simon Jackson Tags: Article News 2022 WET Source Type: news
