GMB MEMBERS TO MEET MINISTER ON OUTSOURCING OF RIVER THAMES MAINTENANCE WORKERS JOBS AND SALE OF LOCK KEEPERS HOUSES AND DEPOT LAND FOR HOUSING IN THE THAMES FLOODPLAIN

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Date: June 2008

GMB river workers to ask Minister for moratorium on EA proposed changes to the way the River Thames is managed as the plans will increase the risk of flooding

GMB members employed by the Environment Agency (EA) will today meet Environment Minister Phil Woolas when he visits Cookham Lock near Maidenhead on the River Thames. They plan to raise with him their concerns regarding a series of proposals from the EA regarding the management of the River Thames which they consider will increase the risk of flooding to communities adjacent to the river if these proposals go ahead.

The EA plan to sell off the lock keepers riverside houses. GMB members consider that this will restrict the ability of the lock keepers to operate lock gates and sluices when the river is high. This will give rise to increased risks of flooding upstream of the locks and sluices as it did upstream in 2007. The EA also plan to outsource the jobs of directly employed electricians, carpenters, fabricator/welders and divers based at the Sunbury-on-Thames depot in Middlesex and the Osney depot in Oxfordshire. These workers repair and maintain lock gates, weirs, sluices and other workings on the River Thames between Teddington in London, on both banks of the river and its tributaries in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and parts of Gloucestershire up to Cirencester using specialist equipment in their depots. They also provide a 24 hour, 365 days a year emergency call out in the event of floods and other problems.

GMB has already staged a number of protests on this. At each protest GMB members had placards saying “Environment Agency is putting people at risk” and “Environment Agency creating a worse place”. They have also handed information on these issues to members of the public and to the EA Board.

Mick Ainsley, GMB Organiser said, “GMB members and families plan to meet Environment Minister Phil Woolas today (Thursday 19th June) on the River Thames. They will impress on him that the way the River Thames is managed is unique to British rivers and that the EA does not seem to understand this and that the EA’s proposals will increase the risk of flooding.

They will tell him that GMB in saying this received threats from the Environment Agency which were tantamount to illegal acts against trade union members. They will also tell him that the EA has now turned its fire on individual members of GMB for saying the same thing. They will reiterate that GMB members will continue to alert the public to the dangers posed to the public by the outsourcing the jobs of vital maintenance workers on the River Thames. They will continue to pinpointing the likely consequences of selling the lock keepers houses. They will point to the difficulties that lock keepers whose houses had been sold had in opening locks and sluices last year when the river flooded as they could not reach the river to open the gates. These workers have also drawn attention to the potential dangers of building houses on the land around the depot in Sunbury-on-Thames which is situated in the floodplain of the Thames on the north bank.

GMB will ask the Minister for an immediate investigation into the activities of the EA’s HR Department and will ask him to impose a moratorium on these changes.

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