Water workers to strike in pay row

Workers at a water company are to stage a 24-hour strike and a work to rule in a dispute over pay, it was announced today.

The GMB union said its members at Anglian Water will walk out on 12 June and will work to rule and withdraw goodwill after warning that staff could lose up to £2,500 a year in pay because of changes to shifts.

The workers maintain sewage facilities in Essex, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire and Lincolnshire.

Industrial action could impact on the supply of clean water, the clearing of sewage and on the safe discharge of sewage into rivers, said the GMB.

Union spokesman Michael Ainsley said: "GMB negotiators are available for talks to avert the industrial action at any time. So far Anglian Water has shown no willingness to negotiate and determined to force a strike."