By David Thompson
Political correspondent, BBC News |
  Maurice Storey was MCA chief executive between 1998-2003 |
A former head of Britain's coastguard services has warned it is in need of urgent reform after years of weak management. Maurice Storey says a review is needed immediately if the organisation is to keep pace with changes in technology and retain key staff for the future. He spoke out as hundreds of workers were preparing to stage their third one-day strike on Wednesday. Rescue coordinators and coastguard control room staff are taking part. They are demanding pay parity with other emergency service staff and claim they have been offered a below-inflation wage deal by the government. 'Lack of management' Union leaders say that without substantial pay rises, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) will be unable to retain the staff needed to operate the increasingly sophisticated communications systems which are coming into use on the seas around Britain. However, they also claim the dispute is not just about money. They believe the agency itself needs to be overhauled - a claim supported by Mr Storey, the MCA's chief executive between 1998 and 2003. He told the BBC: "It is fair to say there has been a lack of management. "I believe that if you let the place go stale and do nothing you will get problems. I think they need to start thinking about the long-term future." He added: "There needs to be a review within three months and if you can put a paper forward to the Treasury and the Department of Transport saying we can reform the service, that there are efficiency savings that can be made, that would free up money for a wage increase." Paul Smith, the official in charge of negotiations with the MCA for the Public and Commercial Services Union, said some coastguard watch assistants - the staff involved in co-ordinating rescues and dealing with 999 calls - were receiving little more than the minimum wage. He demanded that the starting salary of just over �12,000 should increase, with more experienced staff receiving a �3,000 pay rise on their basic of �14,000. However, Mr Smith said his members were also concerned about the way the agency was run and said there was insufficient planning for the future. "It's not purely cash, although that is important. People are leaving the agency because they can work for a port authority for treble the wages. "They need to invest in technology, staff and more staff, and all of these things need to be planned for. "Our members feel they have embraced change but no-one has given them a penny piece for that. The wages dispute feeds into the whole issue. "The only way the agency can provide a full service is by using overtime, but at the end of the day, it is the Treasury who hold the purse strings." 'Embracing change' The issue has been taken up by Liberal Democrat MP Alastair Carmichael, who is calling on Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly to intervene. He said: "Strikes in a crucial emergency service like the coastguard cannot be allowed to continue - the government must act to resolve the current pay dispute. "It must then institute a full review of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency to examine how industrial relations were allowed to deteriorate and what the future shape of the service needs to be." A spokesman for the MCA said the organisation was aware of the need for change and was already embracing it. He said search and rescue operations would not be affected by Wednesday's industrial action and called on the unions to work with management in finding a solution to the dispute. "Taking strike action is not action we can embrace or recognise and is very unlikely to achieve anything," he said.
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There are efficiency savings that can be made, that would free up money for a wage increase
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