Met office hit by STRIKE: Pickets and employee walk-outs at vital warning service
HUNDREDS of weather experts at the Met Office have gone in strike in a pay dispute.
Met Office workers went to parliament on their strike day
As many as 900 employees of the forecaster - which provides vital warnings to the UK - stayed away from work on Wednesday.
Union members manned picket lines outside the weather agency's Exeter headquarters.
The Met Office issues official weather warnings so people know to avoid floods, ice, gales and other serious weather.
Met Office workers picketing their Exeter headquarters
On Wednesday several severe weather warnings were issued - mainly for ice and snow - while workers were absent.
The walk-out, arranged by the union Prospect, is over staff pay.
Workers claim that women are underpaid by around 10 per cent compared to men - and that all employees get 30 per cent more than the private sector would give them.
Prospect organiser Helen Stevens told Express.co.uk that 900 of the 2,000 staff walked out.
But Met Office officials said the figure was closer to 300 - and that services were unaffected.
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Ms Stevens said that entry-level meteorologists have been accepting low pay because weather is their "vocation".
She said: "An operational meteorologist will get, on entry, about £23,000.
"These are people with a degree - often several degrees. They could earn more in academia."
She added that most works think the Met Office is "wonderful", but are striking as they "feel strongly" about the pay situation.
A Met Office spokesman told Express.co.uk: "We have reports of approximately 300 staff – out of a total of around 2000 - taking strike action.
"We have seen no significant impact on services.
"This is down to the robust business continuity plans we put in place ahead of the industrial action."