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Union to protest over Environment Agency jobs cull

Union activists will stage a protest outside a meeting at which they fear details will be given of plans to press ahead with redundancies at the Environment Agency.

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Environment Agency 'will continue with job cut plans'

The Environment Agency says it will continue with plans to reduce its costs, including cuts in jobs.

In January, it announced it would cut more than 1,500 jobs.

The Environment Agency says recent flooding has presented "huge challenges" Credit: Steve Parsons/PA Archive

The agency has announced that proposed redundancies have been suspended while the flooding crisis continues.

The GMB union hit out at "successive years of central government cuts that have trimmed maintenance budgets to unsustainable levels."

The Environment Agency's Toby Willison said the organisation had faced "huge challenges" as a result of the floods.

"The planned reductions in posts will not affect the Environment Agency's ability to respond to flooding incidents and the Environment Agency will minimise the impact on other front line services through the changes" he added.

GMB: EA redundancies put on hold 'is a sham'

GMB official Paul Maloney said that a planned protest has been organised "because last week's EA announcement that consultation on redundancies has been put on hold is a sham".

This meeting shows that the EA is pressing on with the 1,700 redundancies as soon as the floods have receded. Management wants the meeting to discuss how the delay in consultation impacts on the timetable for job losses.

This is a ludicrous state of affairs - have government learned nothing from the current floods?

At the root of the current flooding crisis are successive years of central government cuts that have trimmed maintenance budgets to unsustainable levels.

What we need to see now is a clear commitment from Government to stop the redundancy process and to take the job cuts off the table.

– GMB official Paul Malone

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Union to protest over Environment Agency jobs cull

Union activists will stage a protest outside a meeting at which they fear details will be given of plans to press ahead with redundancies at the Environment Agency.

Unions to protest over Environment Agency jobs cull Credit: Steve Parsons/PA Wire/Press Association Images

The GMB said an amended timetable for 1,700 job losses will be laid out despite assurances from the Prime Minister that no jobs would be lost while the flooding crisis continued.

The agency has announced that any redundancies have been suspended, but unions believe the position will change as soon as the flooding recedes.

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