Royal Navy: "Fed up" Royal Fleet Auxiliary sailors strike again in Portsmouth as MoD fails to issue pay terms

Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) and Nautilus International unions have gone on industrial action on Merchant Navy Day (September 3). From Portsmouth to Singapore, personnel have walked out and left ships unmanned - putting Royal Navy operations on hold.

Union members gathered and formed a picket line in Wharf Road near Whale Island to voice their displeasure at the current state of the RFA. Mark Carden, assistant national secretary of the RMT union, said industrial action is a “last resort” but members felt like they had no choice due to being severely underpaid compared to commercial seafarers. “They’re so fed up with the way they are being treated by the RFA,” the Southsea native told The News. “It’s come to a tipping point where something has to give.” The 57-year-old said members have seen a 36 per cent drop in pay in real terms over the last decade, while austerity and the cost of living crisis has hit them hard.

“They know their living standards are going down,” he added, “they know the skills they have are valued in the maritime industry, which is causing a recruitment and retention crisis within the RFA and the Royal Navy. The MoD needs to wake up, smell the coffee, and realise they have a recruitment and retention problem and are losing skilled personnel because of it. The Royal Navy can’t function without the auxiliary, and it’ll affect the security of the nation and how they can function around the globe. This is affecting everything globally.” Talks were held between the unions and the MoD a fortnight ago. A 4.5 per cent pay offer was implemented at the behest of members. Mr Carden said some of those have been “positive”, but there was an overall frustration with different people in the room and having to re-explain the situation. “There’s no two ways about it, our members need an offer,” the former RFA sailor said. “We need the MoD to get their skates on so we can sit down and settle this dispute. They are thinking seriously in different areas as to where they can source money and being creative, which we have no problem with. There’s more than one way to settle this dispute. We’re open to multi-year-deals, differentials of deals, and if it’s palatable to the members, we’ll put the offer in front of them.”

Mr Carden said the RFA is in a recruitment and retention “crisis”, with poor working conditions causing many people to quit the force. He added that this began in 2012 through the Voluntary Early Release Scheme, where 243 people were taken out of the organisation but the same capability was still expected. “That’s not going to happen”, he added, “it has gradually gotten worse. Our members know that they are behind the eight ball with cost of living, and it has gotten worse over the years. They’re feeling the pinch.”

With more personnel walking out, and others leaving the RFA altogether, many of the ships - even the latest models - are not able to be used for deployment. Mr Carden said so many RFA ships are in the Birkenhead dock that it’s jokingly known as the “Birkenhead navy”. “There’s more there than out at sea,” he said. “Our members are worried for the RFA and have a lot of respect for the organisation. They want to see it succeed, but it’s not succeeding at the moment.”

Martyn Gray, director of organising at Nautilus International, said the lack of reasonable pay and poor working conditions are causing RFA workers to “leave in their droves” as they’re “overworked, underpaid and undervalued”. “They operate on smaller crews and more complex vessels and get the job done,” the 33-year-old added. “They’re fed up with getting the job done while not having enough people on board and being asked to deliver more and more on less and less pay in real terms.” Mr Gray said the RFA is being given 67 per cent of Royal Navy tasking, and is having to take a more active role on military operations for little to no reward.

He added that the MoD will be at the whim of the treasury as to whether a pay offer can be put forward. Prime minister Sir Keir Starmer painted a gloomy picture of the Autumn budget last week, saying that it would be “painful”. “It is such a small amount of money in the scheme of things that will resolve this,” Mr Gray said. “RFA payroll for last year was roughly £95m, which is less than a quarter of a percent of the entire MoD budget. It’s such a tiny proportion of money for such an essential and critical service. Without the RFA, our aircraft carriers can’t be refuelled, restocked and resupplied, and we can’t have a blue water navy. The RFA delivers for the Navy so they can do their tasking, and it’s increasingly that the RFA is doing tasking where the Royal Navy cannot do what is required of them.”

Nautilus International general secretary, Mark Dickinson - former merchant navy sailor - said the government have been “making the right noises” but the details haven’t been ironed out - with action short of a strike being carried out since July. “This has been a dispute which has been 14 years in the making and enough is enough, we have to make a stand,” he said. “We’re determined to deliver an outcome which can resolve this dispute and satisfy our members’ needs. I believe the RFA and MoD want to get this resolved and are working hard to do that. I’m just encouraging them to get that done quickly.”

Mr Dickinson, 62, said a follow up meeting with unions was postponed, as no developments have been made. “The RFA is crucial to national security, humanitarian relief, disaster relief and we want to get back to work carrying out essential functions,” he added. “They don’t have enough people now. There is a recruitment and retention crisis. The MoD understands that and knows they need to fix that problem. That is a long-standing problem which will not be fixed in one pay-round. We need to work together. We all want the RFA to be a successful organisation and be back to where it was 14 years ago, where it’s a place where people are proud to work.”

The MoD said they are working to minimise the impact of the strikes. They added that recognise the importance of working conditions and are working to maintain the RFA as an attractive and effective employer. A spokesman said: “The Royal Fleet Auxiliary are highly valued, specialist personnel. We are committed to listening to their concerns and keeping a continued dialogue to address the issues they have raised.”