As Scotland’s water services face a two-day strike, thousands of workers are set to disrupt emergency repairs and quality checks for the country’s 5 million residents. The Unison union is demanding fair pay for essential services.
Pay Dispute Leaves Scottish Water Staff Striking for Two Days
The strike by Scottish Water staff will disrupt emergency repairs and quality checks to water supplied to 5 million people across Scotland.
Scottish Water is a public utility company responsible for providing Scottish Water and sewerage services to the Scottish population.
Established in 2002, it serves over 5 million customers across Scotland.
The company operates under the ownership of the Scottish Government, with a focus on delivering high-quality services while protecting the environment.
Scottish Water invests heavily in infrastructure development, aiming to improve efficiency and reduce waste.
Its efforts have led to significant reductions in leakage rates and improved water quality.
The Extent of the Strike
More than 1,000 workers in the Unison union are set to go on strike for the second time in a month. They rejected a deal that the union said was 2.6% and followed years of real-terms cuts to wages. The striking workers’ union warned that emergency repairs and quality checks to water supplied to 5 million people across Scotland would not be carried out during the action on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The Union’s Demands
The Unison Scottish Water branch secretary, Tricia McArthur, said: ‘Scottish Water workers are simply asking to be paid fairly for the essential services upon which everyone in Scotland relies. Things are meant to be different in a publicly owned service like this. But senior managers are behaving no differently to those running private water companies south of the border._’
Response from Scottish Water
Scottish Water said it ‘did not recognise’ the figures cited by Unison and said that the offer of 3.4% with a guaranteed increase of £1,400 would spell a 5.5% rise for the lowest-paid. The company advised customers to report any problems with the water as usual.
The chief operating officer, Peter Farrer, added: ‘No one benefits from industrial action, and our focus is on continuing to deliver for our millions of customers across Scotland. We urge the unions to get back round the negotiating table as soon as possible.’
The Relevance of Public Ownership
Unlike in England, the water boards in Scotland were never privatised, and Scottish Water has said that it reinvests all profits, currently about £800m a year, directly back into its infrastructure. This network includes 30,000 miles of pipes and about 2,000 treatment works.
However, agencies have still warned that Scotland’s sewage pollution could be far more widespread than realised. Environmental Standards Scotland last year said that there had been thousands of sewage overflow incidents in the previous 12 months, with some Scottish storm overflows releasing sewage more than 500 times. The agency noted that sites were spilling more frequently than should be expected, with risks to health and the environment, and that only a fraction were fully monitored.
- theguardian.com | Scottish Water staff to strike for two days as pay standoff continues
