{"id":116109,"date":"2023-08-15T09:00:19","date_gmt":"2023-08-15T06:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tietopankki.crnet.fi\/fi\/news\/environment-agency-workers-on-strike-over-pay-in-london\/"},"modified":"2023-08-15T09:00:19","modified_gmt":"2023-08-15T06:00:19","slug":"environment-agency-workers-on-strike-over-pay-in-london","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tietopankki.crnet.fi\/en\/news\/environment-agency-workers-on-strike-over-pay-in-london\/","title":{"rendered":"Environment Agency workers on strike over pay in London"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mp_wrapper\">\n  <div class=\"mepr-unauthorized-message\">\n    <p>You are unauthorized to view this page.<\/p>\n  <\/div>\n  <div class=\"mepr-login-form-wrap\">\n            \n<div class=\"mp_wrapper mp_login_form\">\n                  <!-- mp-login-form-start -->     <form name=\"mepr_loginform\" id=\"mepr_loginform\" class=\"mepr-form\" action=\"https:\/\/tietopankki.crnet.fi\/en\/login-2\/\" method=\"post\" data-trp-original-action=\"https:\/\/tietopankki.crnet.fi\/en\/login-2\/\">\n            <div class=\"mp-form-row mepr_username\">\n        <div class=\"mp-form-label\">\n                              <label for=\"user_login\">Username<\/label>\n        <\/div>\n        <input type=\"text\" name=\"log\" id=\"user_login\" value=\"\" \/>\n      <\/div>\n      <div class=\"mp-form-row mepr_password\">\n        <div class=\"mp-form-label\">\n          <label for=\"user_pass\">Password<\/label>\n          <div class=\"mp-hide-pw\">\n            <input type=\"password\" name=\"pwd\" id=\"user_pass\" value=\"\" \/>\n            <button type=\"button\" class=\"button mp-hide-pw hide-if-no-js\" data-toggle=\"0\" aria-label=\"Show password\">\n              <span class=\"dashicons dashicons-visibility\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span>\n            <\/button>\n          <\/div>\n        <\/div>\n      <\/div>\n            <div>\n        <label><input name=\"rememberme\" type=\"checkbox\" id=\"rememberme\" value=\"forever\" \/> Remember Me<\/label>\n      <\/div>\n      <div class=\"mp-spacer\">&nbsp;<\/div>\n      <div class=\"submit\">\n        <input type=\"submit\" name=\"wp-submit\" id=\"wp-submit\" class=\"button-primary mepr-share-button\" value=\"Log In\" \/>\n        <input type=\"hidden\" name=\"redirect_to\" value=\"\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116109\" \/>\n        <input type=\"hidden\" name=\"mepr_process_login_form\" value=\"true\" \/>\n        <input type=\"hidden\" name=\"mepr_is_login_page\" value=\"false\" \/>\n      <\/div>\n    <input type=\"hidden\" name=\"trp-form-language\" value=\"en\"\/><\/form>\n    <div class=\"mp-spacer\">&nbsp;<\/div>\n    <div class=\"mepr-login-actions\">\n        <a\n          href=\"https:\/\/tietopankki.crnet.fi\/en\/login-2\/?action=forgot_password\"\n          title=\"Click here to reset your password\"\n        >\n          Forgot Password        <\/a>\n    <\/div>\n\n      \n    <!-- mp-login-form-end --> \n  <\/div>\n      <\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"smart_content_wrapper\">\nStaff shortages, a lack of specialist personnel and low pay are major barriers to achieving net zero, according to workers in the UK environment sector. The trade union Prospect, many members of which work in the climate and environment sector, received more than 500 responses to a survey on workplace trends. Widespread shortages of expert staff and reductions in specialist personnel in recent years had seriously affected workload levels, the study found. Four in 10 workers said they had seen a reduction in the numbers of expert staff in the past year, and 35% said they had experienced a significant increase in workload.<\/p>\n<p>More than 100 respondents provided additional comments. \u201cI really like the people I work with and the value of the work I do,\u201d one wrote, \u201cbut I could be paid four times as much for my skills in a different industry \u2013 one that is bad or indifferent to the environment. We can\u2019t solve environmental problems or net zero unless we have people to do the work.\u201d The reduction in expertise has led to important tasks being assigned to inexperienced staff, according to respondents, with 36% saying specialist jobs are being allocated to untrained workers.<\/p>\n<p>Low pay is a significant concern across the sector, which has a large percentage of specialised and highly educated staff. Despite the skilled nature of many roles and 20% of survey participants having a PhD or equivalent, 38% of respondents report earning \u00a330,000 or less. One respondent described feeling \u201cunderpaid, undervalued, understaffed, overworked\u201d, while another reported they \u201cwork in a role which is crucial to the organisation yet receive one of the lowest salaries. I have to do regular overtime every month to survive and as a result have a poor work\/life balance. It affects my mental and physical health.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Women are disproportionately affected by low pay in the sector, with the average earnings of female workers in the \u00a325,000-\u00a330,000 bracket, compared with \u00a330,000-\u00a335,000 for male counterparts. Almost half of those questioned reported no room for career progression in their current role. One respondent described the \u201cdemoralising\u201d effect of a workplace with a \u201clack of reward for expertise gained over time\u201d, and where \u201cprogramme managers are valued more highly than international experts\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Thirty-seven per cent of respondents cited government policy as the primary obstacle to preserving the natural environment and achieving net zero carbon emissions. Other barriers include economic factors, cited by 27%, reluctance to change (16%) and limited resources (9%). \u201cWe are being eroded and demoralised over time by the lack of ambition in the government to actually support us,\u201d said one respondent.<\/p>\n<p>Another described their workplace as \u201csupportive and inclusive\u201d but said it was \u201cabundantly clear that underfunding and understaffing limit the extent of the impact that we can have on actually making concrete progress on conservation and restoration of nature. The great work that\u2019s been done so far with such limited resources is a testament to the dedication and passion of long-term employees who contribute so much to creating a positive workplace culture.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sue Ferns, the senior deputy general secretary of Prospect, said the survey was \u201cinvaluable to understanding what is happening at the frontline of the fight to tackle the climate crisis. They are telling us that the paring back of expert roles in their teams is leaving them increasingly burnt out. \u201cDespite the government talking up the potential of green jobs, it is failing to put in place the funding needed to make working in the natural environment the aspirational career that it should be.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/environment\/2023\/aug\/15\/shortage-of-experts-and-low-pay-major-barriers-to-uks-net-zero-future\">The Guardian<\/a> <\/div>\n<p>The post <a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/vastuullisuusuutiset.fi\/fi\/vaufien\/113524\/\">Environment Agency workers on strike over pay in London<\/a> appeared first on <a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/vastuullisuusuutiset.fi\/fi\">Vastuullisuusuutiset.fi<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[5220,1108,2839,4888,606,607,608,9118],"class_list":["post-116109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-environment-agency","tag-london","tag-pay","tag-strike","tag-vau_viikkokatsaus","tag-vauen","tag-vaufien","tag-workers"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tietopankki.crnet.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tietopankki.crnet.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tietopankki.crnet.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tietopankki.crnet.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tietopankki.crnet.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116109"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tietopankki.crnet.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116109\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tietopankki.crnet.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tietopankki.crnet.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tietopankki.crnet.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}