00:00We're here with our members at Scottish Water today at Shield Hall. It's simple, this is
00:05an avoidable dispute that we're having just now, it's round about the derisory pay offer
00:09that's been put on the table for last year for our members, it's just not good enough.
00:14Our members have been patient, we've brought different offers to the table and a bid to
00:19try and resolve this and Scottish Water are not interested and will not move on their
00:23£1,400 offer. The strike for Scottish Water today, it's national, it's right across the
00:28whole of Scotland. There's picket lines across every region, every area in Scotland today.
00:33We're aware how this can affect the public today, how it affects businesses but there's been no
00:38other option. We've been pushed into this position, nobody wants to take industrial action but
00:43unfortunately this is where we are just now and this is our final call to try and get a resolution
00:50on this and to get a decent pay offer for our members. You can see yourself the amount of
00:53people that's turned out at these picket lines today, the feeling is strong. People are
00:58angry, people are upset, people feel that they're not getting given a pay rise that's due to their
01:02worth. You know the work that these guys and girls carry out every day for the majority of the time
01:08goes unseen and that's because of how well they do their jobs. You know we don't have massive issues
01:12with water in Scotland and that's to do with the people at the front line carrying out their job day
01:17to day. That's not because we've got executives sitting on boards and hundreds of thousands of
01:21pounds a year refusing to give a decent pay offer to our members. The workers that are out in
01:25strike today, they carry out a broad range of jobs right across Scotland. They make sure that the
01:29water that comes through your taps is clean, it's drinkable, they make sure that the dirty water in
01:33your house and your businesses leaves the property, they make sure that the water's purified, you know
01:38they make sure they carry out flooding defences. It's enormous the jobs that they do in Scottish
01:42Water. It's a service that people expect just to be carried out every day without realising the work
01:47that goes into it. These are skilled members of staff, you know they're poorly paid. This pay offer that
01:53they've been offered this year is way below what they're expecting and this is the only way that
01:57they can you know see an end to getting an end to this dispute. This dispute is avoidable. This pay
02:02offer that you have on the table has been rejected numerous occasions by our member. Come back to the
02:07table, offer the you know the workers that do the work for you every day a decent pay offer and let's put
02:13an end to this. The strength of feeling is that there's an anger against management. I think there's an
02:18arrogance when it comes to the way that Scottish Water staff and our members have been treated.
02:25It's not been good enough. The types of workers who are on strike today are workers who deal with
02:30pipe work, who are electricians, who work in the offices. Anyone who provides an essential service for
02:38Scottish Water has taken industrial action of all three unions both GMB, Unison and Unite My Union.
02:44Alex Plant, the chief executive, has not attended one meeting with us despite getting a remuneration
02:50package of under half a million pounds. This is a public body and this is not how our members should
02:56be treated who are on the front line. Recently they had a customer survey back, the best results ever but
03:02yet they still haven't changed on their current offer. Managers and chief executives are receiving,
03:09they receive double bonuses not just a bonus and it's just not good enough.
03:14The pay offer for 2024 is 2.86%, that's less than the rest of the public sector, less than the rest of
03:22the private sector and additionally the Scottish Water management have got massive bonuses and are
03:28paid the most in the public sector of anyone in Scotland. At the moment we've got two days of
03:33industrial action, we've got a further two days planned, we've already had some industrial action.
03:38We're going to continue this fight until Scottish Water sit and listen and put a fair pay offer on
03:44the table and if they're not willing to do it the Scottish Government should intervene and make sure
03:49that they do. My message is treat your workers with respect. Your own staff survey says 83% of them
03:58feel underpaid and undervalued. Give them a fair pay rise.
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