Met Office staff based in Aberdeen have commenced strike action today (10 May) in a dispute over pay, job losses and redundancy terms.
This follows a previous Met Office strike on 15 March, and members of trade union Prospect have been working only their contracted hours and no overtime since 16 March. Employees based at the Aberdeen office will be running a picket line today at Aberdeen International Business Park.
Prospect represents members who work for Civil Service employers, including the Health and Safety Executive, Trinity House, Intellectual Property Office, Animal and Plant Health Agency, Natural England and UK Research and Innovation, with around 40 organisations on strike today.
The union stated that the government refused to enter negotiations to resolve the current pay and conditions dispute, and instead imposed a pay rise of 4.5% for the 2023/24 financial year, lower than inflation at 10.1%.
According to members, their pay has declined by up to 26% since 2010 in real terms, and they believe the current pay offer would further erode their living standards.
A Met Office spokesperson, said: “Prospect Trade Union has announced a one-day strike action for 10 May, and again on 7 June, over pay and changes to employment terms across the Civil Service. The Met Office has detailed plans to minimise disruption, prioritising services critical to safety of life, such as our national severe weather warning services, several services to aviation and marine and services to defence colleagues.
“This is a national dispute across several Civil and Public Service agencies. We continue to engage with Prospect to resolve this dispute and deliver a fair pay deal for our people.”
Mike Clancy, general secretary at Prospect, added: “For months we have been pressing ministers to put forward a serious offer that recognises the cost-of-living crisis facing our members. But instead of coming to the negotiating table, the government has published a pay control of 4.5% for 2023-24, with nothing on the table for last year. This industrial action was entirely avoidable, but the failure by government to make a comparable offer to elsewhere in the public sector has made it inevitable.”