Staffordshire Shop Stewards Network

GMB WATER WORKERS STRIKE AGAINST UNITED UTILITIES CUTS TO PENSION SCHEME

GMB water workers in the North West employed by United Utilities (UU) have been forced to take strike today for 27 hours - from 5 am Friday to 8am Saturday 20th February in a long running dispute over the company’s proposals to increase their profits by introducing unilateral changes to the defined benefit pension scheme.

(photo Andy Bentley) Click to enlarge

Last month GMB announced that it was going ahead with a formal official strike ballot to ensure that the company gave an undertaking to make no changes to the scheme without negotiations. The ballot closed on the 26^th January with 82.1% of members voting to take part in industrial action. A massive vote in favour of strike action with at least 18 picket lines set up today across the GMB North West region demonstrating the widespread support for this action.

Andy Bentley from National Shop Steward Network Staffordshire took a message of support from the NSSN to the picket line just outside Nantwich in Cheshire. Strikers told us “it's decades since workers here have had to take strike action but we have to defend our pensions. We will strike again if necessary”