NI Water Staff Suspend Strike Following Pay Offer

A segment of NI Water employees has paused their planned strike activities subsequent to receiving a pay proposal from the Department for Infrastructure (DfI). This industrial action was scheduled for the upcoming week, and representatives from the Unite union had cautioned that it held the potential to be “devastating” for consumers. Approximately 250 workers affiliated with Unite will refrain from striking during the ballot process concerning the proposed pay package, which comprises a 5% wage increase and a single payment of £1,500. According to them, this offer ensures water workers receive an identical increase to that granted to all other civil servants for the 2023-24 fiscal year. Concurrently, around 100 GMB members employed at NI Water are still undergoing a ballot regarding strike action in connection with the ongoing pay dispute. Joanne McWilliams, a regional officer for Unite, stated that employees had endured a 21-month wait “for a pay increase all other civil servants have already received”. She further commented, “Disgracefully it took the threat of industrial action at the heart of winter by low-paid water workers to break the ministerial log-jam holding up this money.” The last instance of NI Water workers participating in strike action occurred between December 2014 and January 2015. A review conducted afterward indicated “significant disruption to water supply in parts of Northern Ireland,” which “resulted in consumers losing their water supply.”