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ENVIRONMENT Agency staff are to strike over pay for the first time in the organisation’s 26-year history.
Public-sector union Unison represents 2,800 agency staff in England whose responsibilities include the Thames Barrier, coastal defences, managing flood risks, and river and sea pollution oversight.
They have a rejected a 2 per cent pay increase and a one-off £345 payment and want an inflation-proof pay increase.
Unison says low wages have forced many staff to leave, putting those remaining under “intolerable pressure.”
The union’s head of environment Donna Rowe-Merriman said: “In the face of a derisory wage offer that’s way below the cost of living, it’s not hard to see why so many have voted to strike.
“Persistent government cuts to the agency’s funding have squeezed budgets and pay rates, prompting experienced staff to up sticks and head elsewhere.
"Now talk of difficult decisions and caps on public-sector wages next year could prove the final straw.”
Strike dates are to be announced.
