Pete Bevington

9 April, 2008

SHETLAND Coastguard will be answering all emergency calls and operating a normal service on Friday, the day when around half of the UK’s 19 coastguard rescue centres will be closed due to national strike action.

Yesterday (Tuesday) Shetland coastguard officers joined the three day long national work to rule during which they will only record incidents locally, denying management access to information about what is going on around the country.

Meanwhile northern isles MP Alistair Carmichael has slammed UK transport secretary Ruth Kelly and the government for failing to make any public statement about the ongoing dispute.

The Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) has called two 24 hour strikes this Friday and on 23 April, following a similar day of action on 6 March.

A spokesman for Shetland Coastguard said they felt the islands were too isolated to join in Friday’s action without threatening lives, even though members are in full support of their colleagues.

“People in Shetland are not willing to withdraw search and rescue and emergency response despite the fact that everybody supports the pay claim,” the spokesman said.

“They don’t feel they can just walk away and leave. We are very much on our own up here and we can’t call in support from our next door station, which they can do elsewhere.”

The pay dispute has been rumbling for over a year after the union rejected the Maritime & Coastguard Agency’s past two below inflation pay offers.

The PCS say the coastguard has slipped behind other emergency services like ambulance and fire and want to be brought up to parity, which would mean around £3,000 more per year in each pay packet.

PCS spokesman Alex Flynn said the union expected a similar turn out on Friday to what happened on 6 March, when half of the country’s 19 rescue stations were closed after 700 officers walked out of work.

The MCA have said they can provide cover on the day, but Mr Flynn said the union had “reservations” about their ability to do so.

“We are particularly disappointed that we are having to go on strike for a second time given that the last strike day was so well supported. There’s a feeling that the government and management should really have taken note of the strength of feeling and recognised that this is not an issue that is going to go away,” he said.

“If you want to retain staff you have to pay them a decent wage, which is more than you get flipping burgers in a burger joint.”

The MCA yesterday issued a statement saying they too were “disappointed about Friday’s strike.

“Union members should also be aware that as we enter the leisure yachting and recreational boating season, they will need to be careful in the action they take of risking the lives and safety of the boating public.

“Contingency plans are now being drawn up by senior managers to lessen the risks, but the MCA remain very concerned by this unnecessary and potentially life threatening action and would encourage the unions to return to the negotiating table at the very earliest opportunity."

Both sides say they want to return to the negotiating table, but disagree on the terms under which such talks should take place.

Yesterday Alistair Carmichael MP wrote to transport secretary Ruth Kelly demanding she make her first public statement on the dispute, which has yet to be mentioned in the House of Commons.

Mr Carmichael said: “The indifference demonstrated by Ruth Kelly towards her responsibilities for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency is breathtaking.

“I cannot believe that any other emergency service would be treated in this way. It is clear that there is no prospect of the senior management in the MCA solving this dispute; it is in fact their attitude and approach that has forced coastguard agency workers into taking strike action.

“Ruth Kelly must intervene as a matter of urgency and if this dispute remains unresolved I cannot see how someone’s life somewhere will not eventually be put at risk.”