Unions call for Ministers to intervene in bitter Scottish Water strike
Unions say Scottish Water management have failed to seriously engage in negotiations, and claim a revised offer made this week was worse than one already rejected by workers.
A strike due to last seven days has now begun.
The GMB said that Alex Plant, the chief executive of the water company - who earned £480,000 last year - attended the talks on Tuesday for the first time after his absence had been criticised but only stayed a few minutes before leaving.
Workers are striking over pay (Image: Gordon Terris/NQ) Speaking at a rally outside the company's Shieldhall depot in Glasgow this morning, Mr Smith said: 'In England, we have seen a series of scandals surrounding water companies from exorbitant debt and executive pay to filthy beaches and rivers.
'Scottish Water is publicly owned and meant to be different, so how did we end up here?'
'How did we end up with workers being refused a fair pay rise while executives line their pockets with record bonuses?
'How did we end up with a chief executive finally turning up to pay talks after a year and only staying for 20 seconds?'
He added: 'It is damning of the management of Scottish Water but damning too of the hypocrisy of a Scottish Government that advocates for fair work and the protection of public services.
'John Swinney and his ministers must be held to account for this growing scandal.
'From this point forward, every time they talk to us about fair work and how Scotland treats working people better, we will point to Scottish Water and its absolute failure to make good on that promise.'
READ MORE: Scottish Water staff to strike for seven days after pay offer is rejected Union urges for ministers to help with Scottish Water pay dispute
The meeting between the company and unions on Tuesday night failed to deliver a breakthrough as the unions, GMB Scotland, Unite and Unison, accused Scottish Water of weakening an offer already overwhelmingly rejected by workers.
After three earlier days of strike action, a seven-day walkout began on Monday as part of a rolling programme of industrial action threatening emergency repairs, testing and maintenance.
Claire Greer, GMB Scotland organiser, said the unions had agreed to attend the hastily-convened meeting on Tuesday night in the hope of a serious offer and a possible resolution.
Instead, she said, it was the second time in the dispute that Scottish Water made a new offer that was worse than the previous one.
STUC General Secretary Roz Foyer at the rally (Image: Gordon Terris/NQ) She said: 'The company's refusal to engage with these negotiations in a serious manner is beyond our understanding.
'For a while, we could not decide if it was incompetence or wilful. After so many months, it can only be deliberate and, for whatever reason, the company has no interest in finding a resolution.
'It has spent more time questioning how unions ballot our members than trying to find a way to end to a dispute that is entirely of its own making.'
She added: 'Scottish Water has shown no interest in reaching a fair settlement and sat on its hands as a dispute that could have easily been resolved months ago escalated.
'The Scottish Government must now explain to its senior management team why its refusal to clearly and honestly engage with its own workforce cannot stand.'
Workers overwhelmingly voted to support industrial action after the water company, where executives received record bonuses last year, reduced the terms of a pay offer that had already been rejected.
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