Royal Navy will find it "very difficult" to carry out deployments amid Royal Fleet Auxiliary strikes - union

Members of the Nautilus International union carried out a demonstration near Whale Island in Portsmouth this afternoon (August 15). Representative Helen Kelly said staff simply feel “overworked, underpaid and undervalued”, and have been forced to take industrial action for the very first time.

The 48-year-old added a 4.5 per cent below inflation pay offer was pushed through by the Ministry of Defence (MoD), which left staff feeling frustrated and angry as its members have seen a real terms pay cut of 30 per cent since 2010. Ms Kelly said the Royal Navy will be continually face problems if industrial action persists and the RFA is not as effective in supporting the force as previous.

“It is (the RFA) going to go under increasing pressure to be able to operate the service at its full capacity, which will have knock-on effects for the Royal Navy,” the London native told The News. “It is the Royal Fleet Auxiliary that ensures naval operations can continue in conflict zones around the world.

“The RFA is vital to the operations of the Royal Navy. These are the people that provide ships with supplies, food, fuel, water, ammunition and help them operate on deployment. We have done bag of the fag packet calculations and within a very short period of time, maybe as short as six weeks, Royal Navy services will find it very difficult to operate if these strikes continue. The Royal Navy will find it very difficult to operate at its current levels within conflict zones.”

Demonstrations from RFA personnel are also being made near the Cammell Laird shipyard in Birkenhead, Merseyside, and at Portland in Dorset. First, Second and Third Officers have joined the industrial action. The RFA has seen a reduced number of staff on board its vessels, though the workload for engineers remains the same. Junior members have been left struggling with the backlog caused by a lack of staff, which results in many of them being burnt out and leaving the force within a few years.

With RFA vessels being asked to deploy alongside Royal Navy warships in conflict zones, such as the Red Sea, the lack of an upgraded pay offer is a bitter pill for union members to swallow. Ms Kelly said the RFA is “haemorrhaging staff” and is having problems with retaining fully-qualified personnel, with prospective recruits having to go through four years of training

“Over the last ten years, there has been a real term pay cut within the RFA,” she added. “The pay has not been keeping with inflation or the other armed forces pay. They have received better pay deals than our members at the Royal Fleet Auxiliary.

“People are being asked to work overtime, extra hours, to do two or three peoples' work. They are putting in a lot more time and effort without a lot more pay. So they’re really stretched and demoralised at the moment. They feel like now is the time to make a stand and get the pay that they deserve.”

The MoD said they are working to minimise the operational impact of strike action, with ministers meeting with the RFA twice in the first few weeks of the new government. The RFA is currently consulting members on a series of new recruitment and retention initiatives, as well as options to increase the flexibility of work.

They added that the 5 per cent pay rise announced for Royal Navy, British Army and RAF personnel also covers the RFA. An MoD spokesperson said: “The Royal Fleet Auxiliary are highly valued, and we are committed to listening to their concerns and keeping a continued dialogue with them to address the issues they have raised.”