UNITE has served industrial action notice on Scottish Water with it confirming around 500 of its members in frontline roles will take part in strike action on April 22 and 23.
Jobs impacted include roles in sewers, water treatment centres, and on pipework, with the trade union adding that the industrial action will directly impact Scottish Water’s ability to respond to water leakages, flooding, pollution, and quality concerns.
Unite has previously criticised Scottish Water executives for ‘using talks through the conciliation service Acas as a means to deny workers a decent pay offer and to instead fall back on an inferior offer made last year’. The ‘watered down’ offer amounts to a basic pay rise of just 3.4 per cent or £1,050 for those on the lowest grades over a nine-month period, it added.
In contrast, Unite has highlighted the ‘eye-watering’ executive pay levels at Scottish Water. Scottish Water’s executive team were awarded £329,000 in bonuses and benefits in 2023/24.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said, “Our members at Scottish water provide a key function. Despite the essential work they do, they have seen their pay eroded for years, they are simply no longer prepared to tolerate this situation.
“Unite does what it says on the tin, and will support workers all the way in fighting for better jobs, pay.”
Sam Ritchie, Unite industrial officer, added, “Unite has now served industrial action notice to Scottish Water after the failure to reach agreement on pay. The action is likely to cause major disruption across Scotland, but the blame for that lies squarely with the executive team at Scottish Water.”
A Scottish Water spokesperson said, “We are very disappointed that we have still not been able to reach an agreement with the trade unions. We would encourage them to restart meaningful negotiations as soon as possible and to recognise the need to agree on a sustainable pay award for our people.
“No-one benefits from industrial action and our focus is on continuing to deliver for our millions of customers across Scotland.
“Our above-inflation pay offer is fair and progressive, prioritising the highest percentage increases in the business for those on the lowest salary grades – money that should be in employees’ pockets now.
“We have improved the offer in an effort to reach an agreement with the trade unions and we are now offering a combined deal for 2024/25 and 2025/26. This is a strong offer which is above inflation and the public sector pay policy.”
