Scottish Water staff stage a two-day strike from midnight today amid a continued dispute over pay.<br /><br />Workers will be out Tuesday and Wednesday following a one-day strike last month.<br /><br />Three unions are taking part in the action, Unite, the GMB and Unison.<br /><br />The publicly-owned company said it had contingency plans in place to maintain services.<br /><br />Unison warned that emergency repairs and water quality checks would not be carried out and problems with supply or sewage would have to wait until the strike was over.<br /><br />It said it had rejected a 2.6% pay offer, amounting to at least £1,050, saying it "fails to compensate staff for a decade of real-term pay cuts", although Scottish Water said the current offer was higher.<br /><br />'Last resort'<br />Unison Scotland regional organiser Emma Phillips said: "Strike action is always a last resort.<br /><br />"Staff have suffered a decade of pay deals that haven't kept up with inflation.<br /><br />"They are not willing to be underpaid any longer.<br /><br />"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."<br /><br />Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: "Our members at Scottish Water provide a key function. Despite the essential work they do, they have seen their pay eroded for years, they are simply no longer prepared to tolerate this situation.<br /><br />"Unite does what it says on the tin, and will support workers all the way in fighting for better jobs, pay."<br /><br />Claire Greer, GMB Scotland organiser, said the company revised its offer after talks with conciliation service Acas but only made it worse.<br /><br />She said: "Its pay offer covering last year and a substantial part of this year was too long, too complicated but, most importantly, too low.<br /><br />"The strikes will go on and action will escalate until our members are made a fair and acceptable offer."<br /><br />Improved offer<br />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.<br /><br />"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."<br /><br />He said both sides met the conciliation service Acas earlier this month to try to resolve the dispute, and since then an improved offer had been made.<br /><br />"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," he said.<br /><br />"We urge the unions to get back round the negotiating table as soon as possible."<br /><br />He added: "We don't recognise the 2.6% number in Unison's statement and it's not been part of the offer in our negotiations.<br /><br />"The pay offer is an above-inflation 3.4% increase for 2024/25, with a guaranteed pay rise of at least £1,400 for those on the lowest job grades
