Coastguard strike on Friday.

Due to poor pay levels, workers for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency have gone on strike. Around 700 workers walked out for 24 hours on Friday morning. Although the strike involved the rescue co-ordinators, not rescuers themselves (so any distress calls would be answered as normal), it is still a worrying thought that those who so many rely on to help them out in a crisis may not be available. The workers striked due to low pay, claiming they receiving barely minmum wage at current and pay increases for more experienced workers were as little as 1%. The union claimed this was causing bad morale. The union say they hope the strike will be their first and their last, and that the government will sit up, take notice and make the changes necessary.