Public and Commercial Services Union

Background

During 2008 the members in the MCA have taken 7 days of strike action in support of their claim for fair pay and comparability with other emergency services. It its 154 year history of search and rescue this is the first time ever that they have felt compelled to take such action.

Since 2001, MCA management have undertaken three comparability studies, at public expense, to compare salaries earned with the control rooms of the marine rescue control centres around the country and other similar operations for the other emergency services and others. As part of the 2005 pay settlement an agreement was reached that included, amongst other things, a commitment from management to undertake the third of these studies as part of the 2006 pay negotiations.

The pay comparability study was concluded on 6 December 2006 and the findings were presented to the unions on a confidential basis. The comparator jobs include operation control rooms in fire, police and ambulance service and a number of other maritime related organisations.

Some headline figures from these include:

Coastguard grades

watch assistant         watch officer              watch manager
11,735 – 14,702        14,183 – 18,349        18,998 – 24,578

fire service equivalent
18,922 – 25,221        26,805 – 27,961        28,567 – 31,267

police equivalent                                         (supervisor)
14,744 – 17,079        16,048 – 18,878        21,359 – 24,237

The comparators are not exact. For the police the figures are averaged across 10 forces and the duties vary between forces. In all cases the duties differ from the coastguard agency but the work in an MCA operations room involves significantly more responsibility for being directly in control of rescue operations than would be found in the other comparators.

On 20 December 2006 a meeting was held at PCS HQ at which management presented their response to the comparability studies.

They informed the unions that they did not believe that the study proved anything and were instead going to ignore its findings and indicated the sort of remit that they would seek from the treasury without making a formal offer.

They informed us that they had no intention of taking any notice of this third study that had again shown obvious disparities. Their suggestion as to the likely offer showed that increases would not achieve inflationary levels for most staff over a 2 year deal.

At the end of January management presented to the unions their first offer for this pay round. It fell considerably short of expectations in terms of maintaining salary levels and for those with most experience it represent barely 1% increases.

It failed to address any reassurances about work on levels and the unions rejected the offer. Less than a week later the same offer, the first offer, became the final offer and was subsequently imposed.

Industrial action

Having rejected this offer both PCS and Prospect both balloted members on action short of strike action in pursuit of their claim. PCS made it clear that at this stage they would limit their action to internal processes with a view to avoid any disruption to members of the public or search and rescue services.

Action began on 25 May and continues.

A new chief executive

A meeting was held with Peter Cardy within a week of his arrival in post as the new chief executive.

The meeting was cordial and we again made it clear that members now had an expectation of tangible progress in their claims for a fair comparison with their colleagues with whom they work day in, day out in other emergency services. He undertook to reflect on what we had said and to work with colleagues to come back to us with a response.

A meeting was held to discuss their response before a letter was received by unions dated 9 June. The terms go no way close enough to give the reassurance necessary after so many years of broken promises. As a result PCS responded seeking another meeting and making it clear that we need to see further progress.

At the same time that PCS representatives were meeting to discuss the letter the chief executive issued a notice to all staff.

His message has landed terribly with staff who are furious with his attitude.

His notice included the sentence “my colleagues [coastguards] would like more pay simply because they would like to be paid more”. We warned him that this attitude given the background to this dispute is only likely to enflame members’ which is what it has done.

Pay 2007

The pay round of 2007 was held under the shadow of ongoing action short of strike action and an unwillingness to address the fundamental issue of pay comparability.

The offer, when received in early 2008, provided nothing for members to ensure that they even keep pace with rising costs. For those members, about two thirds, who are at the top of their scales it provided for a consolidated increase of 1%.

This abysmal offer coincided with what many members had believed was unthinkable just months before, a ballot on strike action. The result was a huge endorsement of the action and the 6 March was set for the first ever strike action in the MCA. Throughout the summer further strikes were held in April, May and then again over the August bank holiday.

These were very well supported throughout the country with more than half the rescue centres closed and the rest being operated by untrained managers and other workers.

During all the strikes significant publicity has been gained in support of the campaign with both regional and national television and radio coverage.

Parliamentary campaign

There is significant support in parliament for the dispute and the cause for which we are fighting. Over 60 MPs signed an early day motion and 15 attended and spoke up on behalf of the coastguard at an adjournment Debate held in May 2008.

Three times have delegates from the SEC met Jim Fitzpatrick MP, minister for shipping, to raise concerns and urge his intervention to resolve this dispute. This work continues and the PCS parliamentary group will meet with him again later in November.

Pay 2008

There have been no negotiations in 2008. Representatives from both PCS and Prospect were advised of the pay offer at a meeting on Monday 20 October 2008 which indicated they would offer an increase at the top of the scale worth 1.9% with higher increases for the very lowest paid together with some other issues.

Both unions indicated that governed by national policy this offer would not be acceptable and could not be accepted. At this point they said they intended to implement the offer and impose the pay rise with the October salaries.

There is no way this could be implemented between 20 October for the same month and leads one to believe that the decision had already been made.

Future meetings and action

A meeting is to be held on 7 November 2008 with the chief executive and other senior members of management for them to open discussions on the future shape of the agency and search and rescue operations.

It remains our view that this could represent the best possible opportunity to address the longstanding pay comparability issue as part of a wider reorganisation of the MCA. We know, from our own members, that this would not be something they would be averse to but there remains a concern that the opportunity will be grasped by management.

PCS have made it clear to management that any proposals must have as a cornerstone dealing with pay comparability and members will not accept as ‘jam tomorrow’ commitment from a management in whom they have no faith to deliver.

Similarly, proposals from management will not be accepted unless they meet the operational requirements of the important job our members do. These discussions will be extremely important for the future of this dispute and campaign.