Coastguard staff may need to apply for own jobs

COASTGUARD staff may have to reapply for their jobs despite their stations being saved, it has been revealed.

On Thursday it was announced that three out of Scotland's five coastguard coordination centres had escaped the UK government's cuts.

While Aberdeen, Stornoway and Shetland stations will all stay as 24-hour operations, the centres at Clyde and Forth will close. The new proposals, which come into effect between 2012-2015, will see Scotland lose 59 of its 128 coastguards.

The news that Stornoway and Shetland operations, which were in line to be scaled back, had survived was warmly welcomed by campaigners, including councils and politicians.

But the announcement was greeted with "mixed feelings" by coastguard staff who will have to reapply for posts if terms and conditions are changed under the proposals.

The Safety First Campaign, which was fighting for the Stornoway station, said: "The areas of the proposals that were less well received included all staff having to apply for their own jobs at some point in the future, a lack of detail over the responsibility and tasks that will be undertaken by the single maritime operations centre and the eight sub-centres."

A Maritime and Coastguard Agency spokesman said: ""It may be some posts have to be realigned and some will not be realigned and people have to be treated fairly."