Interview with Scottish Water strikers

Tony Boardman spoke to some of the Scottish Water strikers on the picket line in Glasgow

On Tuesday 22nd and Wednesday 23rd April thousands of Scottish Water workers went on strike across Scotland demanding an increased pay offer, following a one-day strike the previous month. Workers there have voted against a 3.4 per cent offer. Workers describe a fight not solely for better pay, but against the ‘privatisation from within’ of Scotland’s public water company, which is seeing increased usage of expensive private contractors. Scottish Water remained public after voters rejected its privatisation in 1994 in a referendum by Strathclyde Regional Council.

I went to the Shieldhall Sewage Works in Govan, Glasgow, to talk to striking Scottish Water workers represented by UNISON, Unite and GMB. 

You can listen to what some of the strikers had to say here:

Transcript

Sylvia Martin: So my name is Sylvia Martin, and I’m a P6 planner for Scottish Water. I’ve worked for Scottish Water since 2015. Over the last two years, I would say there’s been – not so good – changes, and we are on the picket line today to get a better, increased offer from last year. 

So, 2024 to 2025 we’ve not had a pay increase because we have refused their offer. 

So where we are located at the moment is Shieldhall, on Renfrew Road [in Govan]. It’s wastewater – we do treatment work. You’ll see big lorries taking away the sludge. So we treat most of Glasgow at Shieldhall. 

Claire Greer: I’m Claire Greer, I’m the regional officer for GMB Scotland and I look after Scottish Water [with GMB]. Disappointingly, this is our second day of strike action. Tomorrow will be the third, and it’s regarding the pay offer that’s been put on the table from Scottish Water. I think the thing that’s most important is that this pay offer is from last year – it’s not this year – so we’re still in dispute about something that’s over 12 months old. The offer that they have on the table is £1400 over the 12 month period – It’s just not enough money. Our members have been very clear that they need more, that they need to go back to the table and negotiate for more. And Scottish Water at this point have failed to do so.

Fiona Webber: I’m Fiona Webber, I’m a process scientist on the drinking water side of things, so I don’t work with wastewater. I’ve been working for Scottish water for almost 10 years now in different roles. And yeah, it’s a great place to work overall. And it’s just the last couple of years, that there seems to be a little bit more conflict, a little more butting heads of the general workforce with the management of the organization. 

Tricia McArthur: I’m Tricia McArthur. I’m the Branch Secretary of UNISON for Scottish Water. I’ve worked for Scottish Water for about 14 years. Currently, we are in a pay dispute over 24-25. They offered us 3.4 per cent but in actual fact, when you look at it, in the financial year of 24-25 they’ll be paying the underpin from level one to level six, and £1050 which equates to 2.5 per cent and the further £350 will be paid in the next financial year of 25-26. They’ve then offered us 2.7 per cent for 25-26 which is ridiculous – when you look at United Utilities, they’ve been offered 4.25 per cent for 25-26, a Wellbeing Day and putting their standby rate up by 25 per cent – that’s a failing English water company.

What would it mean for you to win your demands?

Fiona: It would be really satisfying. We’re not asking for exorbitant pay rises, we just are looking for something fair and for everyone to get something that is going to be really helpful in a time where, you know, cost of living is really expensive and only going up. So pressures on people’s lives and livelihoods and their way of life are kind of being jeopardized; it’s not an unreasonable thing to ask for fair compensation for the work that we do.

Claire: The demands that are on the table from the workers have changed. You know, what we went in initially looking for in the pay claim – we’ve pedalled back on that. We’ve reduced that claim in a bid to try and resolve this, our members are just looking for a fair pay deal. They’re looking for something that shows the worth for the work that they do, but for the business to come back and recognize that. I mean, that’s going to bolster the morale right across the board at Scottish Water, which right now is flat, you know, is not there. And if Scottish Water are looking to do anything just now to resolve this dispute, our members would welcome that.

Tricia: I’ve got quite a lot of members currently that are having to go every week of every month to a food bank to make ends meet and we’ve said that to Scottish water, and they seem to think it’s a fair, progressive pay that they’re offering us. The £1400 offer we rejected in December, yet they’re coming back with it again and again. And we are like, you know, we’re the we’re the most successful NDPB (non-departmental public body), the “jewel in the crown” of the Scottish Government. We’re publicly owned. We’re publicly funded. We are funded through council tax. They’ve put up the council tax for water and wastewater rates 23.5 per cent over the last three years and 9.9 per cent this year. Now you times that by a couple of years, you’re going to be paying 100 per cent more if they continue this moving forward. 

Sylvia: I think it would mean a lot for the lower paid workers in Scottish Water. I know that people are struggling. They’ve got families, and they’ve got mortgages, they’ve got bills to pay, and the offer is not an offer that’s acceptable.

What kinds of solidarity have you seen from the public?

Sylvia: We’ve been getting a really good response from the public. It is a public company. The public own Scottish water, like you do, I do. We have had a lot of support from the public. They know that it means a lot to them if they don’t have running water, or if the water they’ve got has not been treated.

How can we support striking workers?

Claire: The support that we need is to get the message out there to the public, to let everybody know what’s going on. We are open for people to show up at our picket lines and show support here. But Scottish water is a public body. It’s owned by the people of Scotland. Let them know. Let them know that you’re unhappy about this. Let them know that the people of Scotland are unhappy that the Board of executives are getting hundreds of thousands of pounds for salaries each year when we’ve got members who are disputing over £1400, you know, get your voices heard in this. Be part of the dispute. This is a public body that’s owned by the people of Scotland.

Tricia: We are going to be sending about a template – we’ll put it up on Facebook and on Tiktok, where people can go in and basically support us. And it’s basically sending a templated letter to the MSPs and MPs to ask them to hold Scottish Water to account. They created that lovely new advert that’s on TV that tells you, Scottish Water “piped by us, owned by you”, that cost a million pounds of taxpayers’ money. How much would it cost to put it up on all the platforms that they’ve got it running on, radio, TV? Is that good? Do you need that as a taxpayer? Do you need to be told that it’s a public company? No!, they’re trying to change the narrative. They’re trying to change the narrative, so you believe any increase by Scottish Water is an investment rather than a bigger bill.