Scottish Water staff are to take strike action later this month after pay talks broke down, with a union accusing the company of “gaslighting workers”.
GMB Scotland claimed Scottish Water has reduced the terms of a pay offer already rejected by workers, who previously voted against an offer of a 3.4% pay rise or £1,400 covering the last nine months.
The union said that during talks at conciliation service Acas on Wednesday night, the company stated that the minimum backpay would only be £1,050.
GMB Scotland has now announced that members will walk out on March 28 and said that longer and more disruptive strikes are being planned.
Claire Greer, GMB Scotland organiser in Scottish Water, said: “It is by now hard to be surprised at how this company takes part in negotiations but, even for them, this is beyond the pale.
“The terms of the offer were clear, had been discussed at length and had already been rejected by our members.
“For the company to arrive at talks intended to find a way forward only to produce a completely different and inferior offer is not just frustrating, it is inexplicable.
“We have spent months discussing this offer only for it to be turned upside down at the eleventh hour for no apparent purpose and with only one possible outcome.
“They are gaslighting workers and making apparently firm offers that change in the wind. It is a nonsense and no way to conduct grown-up negotiations.
“While the actions of this company are impossible to predict or understand, the response of our members could not be clearer. Enough is enough.”
GMB Scotland said it will serve notice of the strike on Friday.
Scottish Water has been asked for comment.
Members at the Unite and Unison unions also backed strike action in ballots which closed last month.
In January Scottish Water announced bills in Scotland were to rise by 9.9% in April.
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