Scottish Water staff back strike action amid pay dispute
- Published
Hundreds of Scottish Water staff have backed possible strikes amid a dispute over pay and conditions.
Unions say the organisation tried to set out a pay offer to workers without consultation or agreement.
Now two separate unions have held ballots and found the majority of members back taking industrial action.
A Scottish Water spokesperson said it was continuing to seek negotiations with unions to increase employee pay and modernise its salary structure.
No dates have been set for industrial action but Sharon Graham, the general secretary for Unite, said that the ballot results should be "a massive wake up call" for Scottish Water.
"Scottish Water bosses have attempted to bypass the trade unions, which is unacceptable behaviour," she said.
Unite held a consultative ballot among its members at the firm and found 92% are willing to walk out, a figure the union says means around 500 staff are prepared to take action.
"Unite will now move towards holding a strike ballot in defence of our members' jobs, pay and conditions," Ms Graham said.
Unison also consulted its members and found 82% were willing to strike unless proposed changes to their pay and grading are withdrawn and a better salary offer is put forward.
'Dog's dinner'
Both unions are now calling on Scottish Water to engage in talks on improved terms that reflect the cost-of-living crisis and allow what Unison termed "proper transparency" in the negotiations.
It comes after the GMB union on Thursday accused Scottish Water of acting in "bad faith", claiming the firm contacted staff directly to set out a pay offer linked to a new grading structure.
The union said Scottish Water managers sent an email to all staff detailing the new proposed structure without consultation or agreement.
Unison regional organiser Emma Phillips said it is no wonder staff have rejected the proposals.
"Scottish Water have made a dog's dinner of their proposals over pay. The lack of accountability and openness is deplorable," she said.
"In any restructuring there are winners and losers, but it's backfired because they have simply tried to bulldoze these proposals through.
"Scottish Water need to get around the table to get a decent cost-of-living pay rise into the pockets of the hard-working staff, and then we can look at their options for restructuring."
The ballots comes amid reports that Alex Plant, the new chief executive of Scottish Water, is being paid £295,000 a year - a salary Unite claims is £25,000 higher than his predecessor and £50,000 above the Scottish government's public sector pay rules.
A Scottish Water spokesperson said on Thursday it was continuing to seek negotiations with unions over "a fair and reasonable proposal" to increase every employee's pay and modernise its salary structure.