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United Utilities (UU) is the latest water company to potentially face industrial action from its staff over a pension dispute.
Trade union members are meeting in Sheffield and are considering UU’s proposals to close its defined benefit pension scheme for active members from the end of March next year.
GMB regional officer Eddie Parker said the plans have been met with “extreme disgust, dissatisfaction and concerns”.
He added: “The discussion at the GMB National Water Forum on a response to these UU pension proposals means that it is very likely that the prospect for industrial action will move a step closer.”
The proposed changes to the pension scheme, which closed to new members in 2006, would see active defined benefit members moved across to the existing UU Defined Contribution Scheme on 1 April next year.
UU is set to launch a formal 60 day consultation on the proposed pension changes on 16 November.
A UU spokesman said: “We are at a very early stage with these proposals – we have only just started consulting with our trade unions and our pension scheme’s trustees. We look forward to hearing their views.
“Many companies have found that final salary schemes have become much more expensive to fund, and UU is no exception. The costs are predicted to keep rising to unsustainable levels.
“We are proposing to give everyone affected the opportunity to join our single defined contribution (DC) scheme. More than 60 per cent of our employees are members already. The scheme rates highly compared with similar schemes offered by many other well-known companies.”
This comes after GMB and Unite members issued notice last week to Northumbrian Water that their members will start indefinite industrial action short of a strike, from Tuesday 20 October in a separate dispute over pensions.
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