Coastguard in Bank Holiday strike

Coastguards staged the first strike in their history in March

Coastguard staff are to stage another walkout over the Bank Holiday weekend in a long-running dispute over pay, union chiefs have announced.

The 48-hour strike by office-based members of the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) is over pay levels compared to other emergency services.

As many as 700 Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) staff could take part in the stoppage from 1900 BST on Saturday.

The MCA said coastguard rescue workers were unaffected by the walkout.

It follows five days of strike action earlier this year at the UK's rescue co-ordination centres.

The PCS claims staff have experienced real-terms pay cuts, with pay rises averaging 2.5% for most staff, and less than 1% for senior personnel.

Members have rightly grown angry at the scandalous refusal to pay them the same as other emergency service workers Mark Serwotka General secretary, PCS

Staff want a rise of £3,000 on their current base salary of about £14,000 a year.

Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the PCS, said: "Strike action is a last resort for our members who provide an invaluable service in ensuring the safety of shipping in British waters.

"The latest action could have been avoided if the government and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) hadn't continued with their refusal to negotiate a satisfactory outcome.

"Members have rightly grown angry at the scandalous refusal to pay them the same as other emergency service workers, and by the government's policy to cap public sector pay increases below inflation."

During the last walkout in July, staff stationed at Portland in Dorset manned their posts, saying they did not feel they could strike while schools were on holiday.

MCA staff want a rise of £3,000 on their current base salary

On what is expected to be one of the busiest weekends at sea, the MCA said contingency arrangements were in place to ensure that it continued to provide an emergency service.

It urged people to take extra care while at sea or on the beach.

MCA chief executive Peter Cardy said: "The agency is absolutely committed to maintaining the safety of life at sea.

"The public should know that distress calls will be answered as normal.

"Sea users should also be aware that this industrial action is by those responsible for co-ordinating rescues.

"The rescuers themselves will continue to operate as normal."