³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ

Scottish Water workers have been "driven to strike action" by the company's failure to resolve a pay dispute, a union has said.

About 500 members of the GMB, Unite and Unison unions began four consecutive days of walkouts on Friday morning.

They are refusing to accept a planned new pay structure and grading system.

Scottish Water has said it was dismayed that unions had taken this course of action while it remained "committed to reaching an agreement".

Union leaders have claimed the proposal would see the earnings of the lowest-paid workers drop by up to £5,000.

But they insist a deal could have been done months ago if Scottish Water had better handled negotiations.

GMB Scotland organiser Claire Greer said: "It has managed to infuriate a committed workforce and drive them to strike action, when the dispute could have easily been resolved months ago.

"Scottish Water has repeatedly been given a clear choice between doing the right thing and making the situation worse, and has taken the wrong decision every single time."

She added: "Its actions over the last six months are a template for how to demoralise staff and demolish industrial relations.

"The priority is to resolve this dispute, but then lessons must be learned."

Members of the three unions announced last month that they would walk out from 10-13 November.

Unite said its strikes would carry on weekly over the following three months.

Unison has warned that any reported problems with public water supply, sewage or drainage would not be dealt with while staff are on strike.

Scottish Water has said it will do everything possible "to ensure customers do not experience any disruption to their water supplies and that treatment of the country's waste water continues as usual, despite the industrial action".

The company's customer service general manager, Kevin Roy, said: "It is essential we can continue to provide customers with the high standard of service they have come to expect from Scottish Water.

"We have looked in detail at how our vast range of activities might be impacted by this action and have put measures in place to minimise any disruption.

"Among the work we are doing ahead of the strikes is the development of to provide customers with information on how we will be continuing to support their essential services."

The strikes come as government-owned Scottish Water is also facing criticism for awarding three executives nearly £3m since 2021.

The payments to Douglas Millican, Alan Scott and Peter Farrer included almost £1.1m in bonuses.

The company's annual accounts show each of the executives received a six figure long-term incentive payment in 2022.

First Minister Humza Yousaf has said the pay of Scottish Water executives was "in line with public sector pay rules".

Speaking at First Minister's Questions on Thursday, he insisted that the pay structure helped Scottish Water "attract and retain highly-experienced personnel to run a vital public service".

When questioned about the workers' pay dispute, Mr Yousaf said he hoped strike action could be averted and added: "The Scottish government has a very strong track record of ensuring workers are paid fairly".