Scottish Water on strike from midnight

The union UNISON warns that Scottish Water staff are taking strike action for the next two days.

Staff at Scottish Water will begin a two-day strike from midnight tonight in a continuing discussion over pay.

Strike action will take place across Scotland on Tuesday 22 and Wednesday 23 April. The two-day walkout follows a one-day strike at the end of last month.

The union says that emergency repairs and water quality checks will not be carried out during the action.

If there are any problems reported with the water supply, sewage or drainage these will not be dealt with until the strike is over.

UNISON said that the offer from Scottish Water – a pay increase of 2.6% or £1,050, whichever is higher – “fails to compensate staff for a decade of real-term pay cuts”.

UNISON Scotland regional organiser Emma Phillips said: “Strike action is always a last resort. Staff have suffered a decade of pay deals that haven’t kept up with inflation. They are not willing to be underpaid any longer. 

“The union has done everything it can to try and get Scottish Water’s senior managers to put a fair offer on the table, but they are refusing to be reasonable.”

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.”

More than 1,000 workers at Scottish Water are members of the union. Staff will be on picket lines at 55 Buckstone Terrace and Juniper House at Heriot-Watt University campus in Edinburgh, as well as other locations in Scotland.