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Staff at Scottish Water voted overwhelmingly in favour of a pay deal which puts an end to recent industrial action.
A ballot, which ended this week, saw 95% of GMB union members support the revised pay offer, which included an 8% rise on basic pay, reduced working hours and backpay.
Claire Greer, GMB’s organiser in Scottish Water, said members were satisfied to settle the dispute, which members felt had been inflamed by management at the publicly owned water company.
The company updated its pay structure for the first time in 21 years, which included a move to link annual pay awards to restructured grading.
The new rate will be applied to all overtime, call-out and standby rates back-dated to April. Staff will also move to a 35-hour working week from November 2024, with no pay reduction.
Union members had voted to support strike action, which was planned to continue into the new year after negotiations previously failed to reach an agreement. Trade unions accused the company of “running roughshod” over negotiations.
Greer said: “This was a dispute that could have easily been avoided by a management which understood the importance of good industrial relations and the need to negotiate with unions in good faith.
“This must be the exception and not the rule at Scottish Water and we look forward to engaging with the company to ensure the work of our members is fairly recognised and rewarded,” she said.
The water company maintained that its restructuring of pay was suitably generous – 8% compared to the standard 3.5% for public sector staff – and remained open to negotiations to resolve the matter with union members.
“We are delighted we can make a back-dated in-year award of 8%, payable in December, following a ballot of joint trade union members which resulted in agreement from the workforce,” said Peter Farrer, Scottish Water’s chief operating officer.
“This has only been made possible by retaining the connection of the pay award to modernising our reward foundations which gives us the ability to go beyond the level of award permissible under the Public Sector Pay Strategy. We are fully committed to working with our unions to ensure a reviewed pay and grading structure is in place by March 2024.”
The deal was agreed with Unite, GMB, and Unison who represent hundreds of staff at Scotland’s only water company.
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