Met Office staff strike over pay

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/feb/26/met-office-staff-strike-over-pay

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The rain stopped, the blustery wind eased a little and in the end – just as they had forecast – a watery sun cheered up the first strike by Met Office workers for 40 years or more.

Several hundred employees at the Met Office’s high-tech headquarters in Exeter downed charts and turned off their computers for three hours as part of a pay dispute. Colleagues in weather stations across the country (and even military bases around the world) also walked out.

“People are increasingly concerned and frustrated,” said forecaster Helen Roberts. “We’ve had a number of years of pay freezes. People are really feeling it.”

Weather forecaster Helen Roberts on why employees at the Met Office have walked out on strike. https://t.co/Rjs1wwKjUU

The argument is that because the Met Office is not an independent organisation but belongs to a government department, it is unable to pay “fair market rates” to attract and hang on to the highly skilled staff it needs. Instead workers are facing the same pay cuts and freezes as so many public sector workers.

Union leaders claim the Met Office’s management wants to pay more, and makes handsome enough profits to do so, but the government prevents it doing so.

“We’re a world-leading organisation,” said Roberts. “We need to recruit and retain world-quality scientists and IT specialists to keep the Met Office running. If we can’t do that because the pay isn’t good enough in comparison to other places that people can work, then that’s a really big issue for us.”

Because it was only a three-hour walkout on Thursday afternoon, the strike was not expected to have an impact on the accuracy of forecasting. The union Prospect, which organised the action, had also worked with management to make sure services that keep people safe, such as severe weather warnings, were not affected.

Met Office strike placard pic.twitter.com/WfbdxTwPcZ

Roberts said: “Today we are doing a half day. We are not anticipating massive impacts. Our intention is to show the strength of feeling. Depending what happens in the coming days and weeks we might want to take things further and do a full day’s strike. That could have much large implications and impacts for our customers and the public.

“We provide many services to the aviation industry. If there were impacts on the world of aviation that could be quite severe.”

The Met Office also provides forecasts for the energy industry, retailers and local authorities. “There are potentially some quite large impacts should we decide to take things further.”

It was not just forecasters who walked out. Alan Vance, an expert on how dust in the atmosphere affects the weather, joined the picket line in his khaki jumpsuit. “They’ve got us over a barrel because people who work here love their job and value the organisation. We hear people tell us it’s a vocation. That’s all very well but it would be nice to be paid properly too.” Vance calculates that his pay has decreased in real terms by more than 30% in the 15 years he has worked at the Met Office.

Met Office strike - airborne dust expert Alan Vance on the picket line. pic.twitter.com/juqXNXVrIC

Helen Stevens, a Prospect negotiator, said workers were upset to be on strike. “It’s sad to see such a magnificent organisation held back by political ideology. First and foremost our members want the Met Office and its world-class science to thrive. It can’t do that if it can’t recruit and retain the right people.”

Prospect also claims that unless better salaries are paid the taxpayer may not reap the benefits from the Met Office’s new £97m forecasting supercomputer, which is 13 times more powerful than the current system and is due to become operational this year.

“Our members are loyal and committed to their work, but they believe that the current pay policy is damaging the Met Office’s ability to serve its customers,” said Stevens. “The Met Office returns profit to the government and can afford to reward people properly at no additional cost to the public purse, but it is not permitted that freedom.”

The Met Office traces its history back to 1854 when an experimental government department was set up mainly to protect the safety of ships and crews at sea. Its proud past includes advising the government of the narrow weather window for the D-day landings to take place.

It now bills itself as a “world-leading weather and climate service”, generating forecasts 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. In addition it provides predictions for military operations across the globe and the weather’s effect on business, such as demand for electricity and sales of products in supermarkets.

It collates information on the predicted spread of insect-borne diseases such as bluetongue, toxic or hazardous fumes, or even volcanic ash. The Met Office also advises the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

In 2011 the Met Office became a “trading fund” within the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). As such it is required to operate on a commercial basis and meet agreed targets as set by the business minister, Matthew Hancock.

The government referred inquiries about the strike to the Met Office. A spokesperson said: “We’re sorry some staff have chosen to take this action but we are confident our robust business continuity measures will reduce the impact of the action.”

Not everybody felt the Met Office’s services would be missed for the afternoon.

Contingency plan for the Met Office strike pic.twitter.com/Y7CkfMp3aF

Russell Emm, a gardener from Wiltshire, said he would drive up to high ground and look towards the south-west, from where the weather usually comes. Amateur forecaster David King from Kent said he preferred to rely on age-old sayings such as “If acorns abound in September, snow will be deep in December.”