Scottish Water staff to go on strike after pay talks collapse

Workers at Scottish Water are set to strike after pay talks with the company collapsed.

Staff are now expected to walk on March 28, with longer and more disruptive strikes being planned.

GMB Scotland has accused Scottish Water of reducing the terms of a pay offer already rejected by the workers.

They had voted against an offer of 3.4% or £1,400 covering the last nine months.

Claire Greer, GMB Scotland organiser in Scottish Water, said the company had sabotaged the talks without warning.

She said: “It is by now hard to be surprised by how this company conducts negotiations, but even for them, this is beyond the pale.

“The terms of the offer were clear, had been discussed at length and had already been rejected by our members.

“For the company to arrive at talks intended to find a way forward only to produce a completely different and inferior offer is not just frustrating, it is inexplicable.

“We have spent months discussing this offer only for it to be turned upside down at the eleventh hour for no apparent purpose and with only one possible outcome.

“They are gaslighting workers and making apparently firm offers that change in the wind.

“It is a nonsense and no way to conduct grown-up negotiations.

“While the actions of this company are impossible to predict or understand, the response of our members could not be clearer. Enough is enough.”

A Scottish Water spokesperson said: “We would encourage the trade unions to get back round the negotiating table again so we can work with them and ACAS to secure a good pay award for our people.

“No-one benefits from industrial action, and we would encourage the joint trade unions to resume negotiations as soon as possible so that we can resolve any outstanding issues amicably and continue 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 been negotiating this particular pay deal since December and it has not changed.”