Staff at the south west region’s headquarters of the Environment Agency walked away from their desks in the centre of Bristol this morning in protest at receiving a real-terms pay cut this year. The 12-hour strike by thousands of EA employees involved staff working in river inspection, flood forecasting, coastal risk management and pollution control saw members of the two unions - Unison and Prospect - walk out.
As well as the 12-hour strike, for another 12 hours either side of the walkout, EA employees withdrew from incident response rotas, which cut the ability of the agency to respond to new pollution incidents.
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Staff at the Environment Agency South West headquarters in Horizon House, on Deanery Road near College Green, held a picket line from 8am this morning, as well as at other offices in Bridgwater, Exeter and Launceston in Cornwall.
Unison’s south west regional organiser Chris Roche said EA employees received a two per cent pay rise plus a £345 lump sum this year, but in 2021-22 most staff receiving nothing. He said that overall, wages at the agency had fallen by more than 20 per cent in real terms since 2010.
“This has caused many staff to leave for better–paid jobs, leaving the agency with severe staff shortages. The unions want the government to intervene to find a solution that will prevent further escalation.
“From flood defences, to river quality, to biodiversity, Environment Agency staff in UNISON work tirelessly to protect communities and our treasured natural surroundings.
“It beggars belief that, as the consequences of climate crisis wreak ever worsening havoc across the country, this Government seems hell bent on running the EA and its staff into the ground. It’s an act of wilful negligence by ministers, and is to the absolute credit of hard working agency staff that they’ve said enough is enough.
“This strike by EA staff is for their families and ours. Without increased funding and pay, the crucial service provided by Environment Agency staff, work that we all benefit from and depend on, will collapse. For all of our sakes, the Government needs to urgently agree an increase to EA funding and pay,” he added.
The EA said mitigations had been put in place around flood warnings and responses to major incidents, and they have maintained ‘a good dialogue’ with the unions.
“As a public sector organisation the Environment Agency remains bound by the pay policy of the Government of the day,” a spokesperson for the EA said.
“We have plans in place to minimise disruption to our essential work to protect the environment and respond to critical incidents,” he added.
Read more on Bristol's Winter of Discontent:
- Bristol nurses on strike say 'we don't want to but we have to' as RCN action continues
- Paramedic strikes: Why ambulance workers are staging walkout
- Bristol teachers say schools have been stripped bare as they demand fairer pay during strike
- Unions boycott Bristol pub after landlord turns away striking rail workers' Christmas do
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