Disruption warning as Scottish Water staff begin 48-hour walkout

Essential services, including emergency repairs and water quality checks, will be suspended during the two-day strike

Scottish Water staff are set to stage a two-day strike from midnight (PA)

Scottish Water staff are set to stage a two-day strike from midnight on Tuesday, escalating a continued dispute over pay.

Workers will walk out on Tuesday and Wednesday after Unison, which represents more than 1,000 staff, rejected a 2.6 per cent pay offer, amounting to at least £1,050, saying it “fails to compensate staff for a decade of real-term pay cuts”.

The action follows a one-day strike on March 28.

The union warned that essential services, including emergency repairs and water quality checks, will be suspended during the 48-hour walkout.

Customers should be aware that issues with water supply, sewage, or drainage will not be addressed until the strike concludes.

But Scottish Water has said, “contingency plans are in place to enable us to maintain normal service”.

Workers will walk out on Tuesday and Wednesday (Andrew Milligan/PA)

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 added: “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.”

A strike ballot took place in February with 65 per cent of votes in favour of walkouts.

Scottish Water workers walked out on March 28 (Craig Meighan/PA)

Peter Farrer, Scottish Water’s chief operating officer, said: “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 proposal 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 met with Acas and the trade unions on April 15 to explore options to resolve the current dispute. Following that, we made a different, further improved proposal in an effort to reach an agreement.

“This is a good proposal, and we are disappointed that union officials have not shared it with their members and given them the opportunity to vote on the offer in a ballot.

“We urge the unions to get back round the negotiating table as soon as possible.”