Opinion: Thames Water makes case for renationalisation … now!

By UNISON’s head of environment, Donna Rowe-Merriman

Shadowy overseas private equity firms have sucked all the good out of Thames Water and saddled it with billions of pounds of debt. So reports that it is scrambling to find extra cash, after handing out millions of pounds to shareholders and bonuses to top bosses in recent years, are hardly surprising.

Even its shareholders won’t keep it afloat, having refused to pay £500m by the end of the month, saying regulatory requirements make its business plan “uninvestable”, and insisting that bills must go up – company boss Chris Weston told the BBC today that they need to rise by 40%.

It’s clear that the business model for Thames Water has failed and the company is unviable.

The company is privately owned by a mix of people and businesses. The consortium of pension funds and sovereign wealth funds owns the entire business. The largest shareholder, as of July 2023, is the Canadian pension fund Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (Omers) with approximately 32%.

Mr Weston also stated that it was “business as usual” at the company. The business appears to be lurching from one crisis to another, leaving staff with an uncertain future and customers facing ever more massive bills.

In the 21st century, the issue of water pollution is a national disgrace. The government and regulator have failed to stop water companies to pollute our rivers, canals and coastline.

Saturday’s Boat Race organisers have issued new safety guidance for the races, warning rowers not to enter the water and to cover any open wounds, after high levels of E.coli bacteria were found on the River Thames course.

Provision of water should never have been privatised, allowing millions to be taken out of the industry to line the pockets of shareholders and company executives, while infrastructure was allowed to crumble.

The government must intervene and take control of a business and renationalise Thames Water and now.

The article Opinion: Thames Water makes case for renationalisation … now! first appeared on the UNISON National site.

Opinion: Thames Water makes case for renationalisation … now!

By UNISON’s head of environment, Donna Rowe-Merriman

Shadowy overseas private equity firms have sucked all the good out of Thames Water and saddled it with billions of pounds of debt. So reports that it is scrambling to find extra cash, after handing out millions of pounds to shareholders and bonuses to top bosses in recent years, are hardly surprising.

Even its shareholders won’t keep it afloat, having refused to pay £500m by the end of the month, saying regulatory requirements make its business plan “uninvestable”, and insisting that bills must go up – company boss Chris Weston told the BBC today that they need to rise by 40%.

It’s clear that the business model for Thames Water has failed and the company is unviable.

The company is privately owned by a mix of people and businesses. The consortium of pension funds and sovereign wealth funds owns the entire business. The largest shareholder, as of July 2023, is the Canadian pension fund Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (Omers) with approximately 32%.

Mr Weston also stated that it was “business as usual” at the company. The business appears to be lurching from one crisis to another, leaving staff with an uncertain future and customers facing ever more massive bills.

In the 21st century, the issue of water pollution is a national disgrace. The government and regulator have failed to stop water companies to pollute our rivers, canals and coastline.

Saturday’s Boat Race organisers have issued new safety guidance for the races, warning rowers not to enter the water and to cover any open wounds, after high levels of E.coli bacteria were found on the River Thames course.

Provision of water should never have been privatised, allowing millions to be taken out of the industry to line the pockets of shareholders and company executives, while infrastructure was allowed to crumble.

The government must intervene and take control of a business and renationalise Thames Water and now.

The article Opinion: Thames Water makes case for renationalisation … now! first appeared on the UNISON National site.

Pay claim submitted on behalf of Environment Agency staff

UNISON and the joint trade unions have submitted a pay claim for 2023/24 seeking an increase of at least 13.2% for Environment Agency (EA) staff.

The unions’ fully-evidenced claim reflects how union members who remain in dispute over the 2022/23 pay award of 2% plus £345 have made it clear that the previous year’s uplift was not acceptable during the height of the cost of living crisis, with inflation running in double digits and with the wages of the lowest paid falling below the National Living Wage in April.

The lack of a significant uplift has created a ‘grade drift’ across all roles in comparison to pay rates a decade ago. This is continuing to grow.

The Cabinet Office published the 2023/24 civil service pay remit guidance earlier this year, which sets out the Treasury’s pay policy for the coming year and binds the hands of a number of government departments and agencies on pay.

It has instructed departments – including the EA – that they can make average pay awards of up to 4.5% this year plus 0.5% for the lowest paid.

UNISON national secretary for business, community and environment Donna Rowe-Merriman said: “Over 10 years of pay restraint and a insulting offer that our members rejected, we look to the EA to make amends and reverse the trend of below inflation offers that make our hard working members worse off.

“We urge the agency to come to the negotiating table with an offer that seeks to deliver a real uplift for members that reverses the trend of recent years.

“A 13.2% increase would meet current inflation rates, and at the same time, begin to address over a decade of pay erosion in the Environment Agency and make staff feel valued.”

Hard-working members who protect our environment

Ms Rowe-Merriman continued: “These are hard-working members who protect our environment and who protect our communities from flooding and pollution. They are feeling the impacts and are demanding a pay rise that doesn’t leave staff facing hardship.

“The lowest paid, many of whom work in field operations, are yet again being hardest hit. The 2022/23 pay award demonstrated to be insufficient as the lowest paid staff EA staff salary was so low if fell below the legal minimum National Living Wage in April 2023.

“UNISON’s member survey showed quite clearly how dependent field ops workers rely on standby and overtime payments – and in some cases, in-work benefits and food banks. This reflects just how hard it is to maintain a reasonable standard of living on their basic agency pay.”

Average pay settlements across the economy have been running far ahead of those received by Environment Agency staff over recent years. This has increased the likelihood of recruitment and retention problems in the long term.

The response from UNISON’s annual pay survey indicates that, yet again, 30% of respondents are seriously considering leaving the agency in the next 12 months – often to water companies, other agencies or the Environment Agency’s supply chain. They state that salary is the main reason for doing so.

The joint trade unions, UNISON Prospect, GMB and Unite, have urged pay talks to commence as soon as possible.

The article Pay claim submitted on behalf of Environment Agency staff first appeared on the UNISON National site.

Pay claim submitted on behalf of Environment Agency staff

UNISON and the joint trade unions have submitted a pay claim for 2023/24 seeking an increase of at least 13.2% for Environment Agency (EA) staff.

The unions’ fully-evidenced claim reflects how union members who remain in dispute over the 2022/23 pay award of 2% plus £345 have made it clear that the previous year’s uplift was not acceptable during the height of the cost of living crisis, with inflation running in double digits and with the wages of the lowest paid falling below the National Living Wage in April.

The lack of a significant uplift has created a ‘grade drift’ across all roles in comparison to pay rates a decade ago. This is continuing to grow.

The Cabinet Office published the 2023/24 civil service pay remit guidance earlier this year, which sets out the Treasury’s pay policy for the coming year and binds the hands of a number of government departments and agencies on pay.

It has instructed departments – including the EA – that they can make average pay awards of up to 4.5% this year plus 0.5% for the lowest paid.

UNISON national secretary for business, community and environment Donna Rowe-Merriman said: “Over 10 years of pay restraint and a insulting offer that our members rejected, we look to the EA to make amends and reverse the trend of below inflation offers that make our hard working members worse off.

“We urge the agency to come to the negotiating table with an offer that seeks to deliver a real uplift for members that reverses the trend of recent years.

“A 13.2% increase would meet current inflation rates, and at the same time, begin to address over a decade of pay erosion in the Environment Agency and make staff feel valued.”

Hard-working members who protect our environment

Ms Rowe-Merriman continued: “These are hard-working members who protect our environment and who protect our communities from flooding and pollution. They are feeling the impacts and are demanding a pay rise that doesn’t leave staff facing hardship.

“The lowest paid, many of whom work in field operations, are yet again being hardest hit. The 2022/23 pay award demonstrated to be insufficient as the lowest paid staff EA staff salary was so low if fell below the legal minimum National Living Wage in April 2023.

“UNISON’s member survey showed quite clearly how dependent field ops workers rely on standby and overtime payments – and in some cases, in-work benefits and food banks. This reflects just how hard it is to maintain a reasonable standard of living on their basic agency pay.”

Average pay settlements across the economy have been running far ahead of those received by Environment Agency staff over recent years. This has increased the likelihood of recruitment and retention problems in the long term.

The response from UNISON’s annual pay survey indicates that, yet again, 30% of respondents are seriously considering leaving the agency in the next 12 months – often to water companies, other agencies or the Environment Agency’s supply chain. They state that salary is the main reason for doing so.

The joint trade unions, UNISON Prospect, GMB and Unite, have urged pay talks to commence as soon as possible.

The article Pay claim submitted on behalf of Environment Agency staff first appeared on the UNISON National site.

UNISON demands Thames Water answers

UNISON’s general secretary Christina McAnea has written to two major figures in the regulation of the water industry about the reported financial mismanagement of Thames Water.

The company, which supplies water to a quarter of the country’s population, has been making headlines over recent weeks after coming under intense scrutiny over its performance and about its financial performance, including reports that it is currently £14bn in debt and on the verge of financial collapse.

Writing to the head of Ofwat David Black, the union’s general secretary asked for clarity about how the situation with Thames Water was allowed to happen and what they are doing about the issue.

She highlighted: “The privatisation of the water companies has systematically failed to deliver for the public, and UNISON is concerned that Ofwat has contributed to the current situation where our water industry is on the verge of collapse whilst under your watch.”

In calling for an urgent meeting with Mr Black, Ms McAnea added: “Everyone relies on employees in the water industry to do critical work, including emergency responses, and any collapse will have a huge impact on employees and on the public.”

Earlier this week Ms McAnea also wrote to the secretary of state for Defra, Thérèse Coffey, requesting an urgent meeting to ensure that the department will learn the lessons from Thames Water and respond accordingly to similar issues across the water industry. This is due to reports that Thames water may not be the only water company facing significant financial difficulties.

She wrote: “It’s clear now, that water companies operate regional monopolies that do not serve the best interests of the communities they serve.

“Renationalisation needs to take place urgently to protect our water security and our communities, and UNISON members must be given a guarantee that they will have job security should the company be nationalised.”

Last week, it was also reported that the government is considering bringing Thames Water temporarily back into public ownership.

Commenting on those reports, UNISON’s national secretary for water, energy and transport, Donna Rowe-Merriman said: “The regulator has been asleep at the wheel. The owners of Thames Water have borrowed billions, yet downed every drop of profit, racked up gigantic debts and rewarded the poor performance of senior directors with huge salaries.

“Profits should have no place in public services. A short-term fix to bail out Thames Water won’t be enough. The government should restore the water companies to public ownership for the good of everyone.”

The article UNISON demands Thames Water answers first appeared on the UNISON National site.

UNISON demands Thames Water answers

UNISON’s general secretary Christina McAnea has written to two major figures in the regulation of the water industry about the reported financial mismanagement of Thames Water.

The company, which supplies water to a quarter of the country’s population, has been making headlines over recent weeks after coming under intense scrutiny over its performance and about its financial performance, including reports that it is currently £14bn in debt and on the verge of financial collapse.

Writing to the head of Ofwat David Black, the union’s general secretary asked for clarity about how the situation with Thames Water was allowed to happen and what they are doing about the issue.

She highlighted: “The privatisation of the water companies has systematically failed to deliver for the public, and UNISON is concerned that Ofwat has contributed to the current situation where our water industry is on the verge of collapse whilst under your watch.”

In calling for an urgent meeting with Mr Black, Ms McAnea added: “Everyone relies on employees in the water industry to do critical work, including emergency responses, and any collapse will have a huge impact on employees and on the public.”

Earlier this week Ms McAnea also wrote to the secretary of state for Defra, Thérèse Coffey, requesting an urgent meeting to ensure that the department will learn the lessons from Thames Water and respond accordingly to similar issues across the water industry. This is due to reports that Thames water may not be the only water company facing significant financial difficulties.

She wrote: “It’s clear now, that water companies operate regional monopolies that do not serve the best interests of the communities they serve.

“Renationalisation needs to take place urgently to protect our water security and our communities, and UNISON members must be given a guarantee that they will have job security should the company be nationalised.”

Last week, it was also reported that the government is considering bringing Thames Water temporarily back into public ownership.

Commenting on those reports, UNISON’s national secretary for water, energy and transport, Donna Rowe-Merriman said: “The regulator has been asleep at the wheel. The owners of Thames Water have borrowed billions, yet downed every drop of profit, racked up gigantic debts and rewarded the poor performance of senior directors with huge salaries.

“Profits should have no place in public services. A short-term fix to bail out Thames Water won’t be enough. The government should restore the water companies to public ownership for the good of everyone.”

The article UNISON demands Thames Water answers first appeared on the UNISON National site.

Water, energy and transport conference held in Liverpool

UNISON’s annual water, environment and transport (WET) conference met yesterday in Liverpool and opened with a speech from UNISON assistant general secretary Jon Richards (pictured above).

Environment agency pay

He opened by highlighting the situation that the country faced when conference last convened a year ago: “Inflation was ramping up and by the end of the year was at levels we haven’t seen for 40 years. Government borrowing soared and interest rates have climbed since.

“More people pushed into poverty, more hardworking people faced with the choice between eating, paying their mortgages, buying school uniforms for their children or keeping their homes warm.

“And the government’s response? Hold down pay where they were in charge and call for wage restraint across the UK – no mention of holding down excess profits though.

“So, for the first time, members of the Environment Agency went out on strike over pay in January 2023, followed by another day of action in February and action short of strike action since.

“Despite this action and our parliamentary pressure, the government would not engage with us to find a resolution to the dispute. But our members did not back down, they again voted for a second time for industrial action.

Mr Richards went on to note that this action has led to a breakthrough, referencing the recent news of an offer of a £1,500 one off payment for last year.

He continued: “Our EA sector committee has rightly said it will put the offer to members, but has also, understandably, the committee has said it can’t recommend what is a below inflation pay offer.

“But conference, only through action did we and other unions achieve an increase and this sets us up for the forthcoming pay round.”

The topic of Environment Agency pay was also discussed in conference business in a motion that condemned the 2% plus £345 pay offer made by the employer to staff in 2022 and called on the service group executive to intensify the current pay campaign.

Moving the motion, Greg Marshall said agency workers were “hailed as heroes one year, but literally forced to use food banks the next.”

He continued, highlighting that the government’s response to the cost of living crisis was to, in the words of the last EA chief executive to the treasury select committee, “toss workers the crumbs of an unfair, unwise, and unjust pay offer.

“Here he was confirming what we’ve known for ages, that pay in the EA was a ticking time bomb.”

He asked delegates: “who else is going to hold the water industry to account as they dump millions of tons of untreated sewage into our streams, our rivers and our seas? Who else is going to hold big agriculture to account as they dose phosphates over swathes of farmland?

“And who else is going to get up in the middle of the night as the river Severn tops it’s banks and homes and businesses are threatened with inundation?”

“We know who it will be – our members. Our experts, our commitment – that’s why we campaign.”

Water

Elsewhere in his speech, Mr Richards highlighted issues in the water industry, quoting the Guardian’s reporting that, “in 2022, water companies paid shareholders dividends of £1.4bn; up from £540m the previous year”.

He added: “While shareholders celebrated, our workers struggled and services suffered. Lack of investment saw increasing anger by the public at continuing sewage outflows polluting our rivers and seas.”

Sewage being pumped into the UK’s waterways was a key topic for debate, with one motion bemoaning the “ongoing mismanagement of water companies’ finances.”

Adding that the finances of such companies need to be more transparent, it called on the SGE to produce a report to better clarify the financial makeup of water companies which could be used in “lifting the lid on the drain of profits that are disappearing out the back door.”

Another motion called on the SGE to work jointly with the water industry select committee and other stakeholders to pursue a re-nationalisation agenda and bring water back into public ownership, among other things.

One delegate said: “More than ever, water quality is at the forefront of public consciousness.” They noted that Ofwat’s regulatory approach, which prioritises value for money for the consumer, and the water companies adopting risk-based strategies to deliver maximum profits, mean that little money is spent on maintaining infrastructure.

They continued: “Southern Water pleaded guilty to 6,971 illegal sewage discharges between 2010 and 2015 at 17 treatment works in Hampshire, Kent and West Sussex and was fined £90m. These treatment works are obsolete and need replacing”.

Martin Bentley of Cymru/Wales added: “The costs of fines, the costs of infrastructure improvements, get passed on to customers, while the profits get passed on to the shareholder – the shareholder never pays in the privatised model.

“We need to talk about who pays for this work – once again the customer, the workers, the staff are going to be paying for this, and I don’t think that’s right.”

Transport

Mr Richards noted that the Passenger Transport Forum, “who have always mirrored the NJC pay settlements, are seeking to withdraw from pay negotiation, which we continue to resist.”

Further to this, conference debated a motion about the funding of local bus services, which noted the recent government scheme to cap bus fares at £2 in England as part of its support scheme during the cost-of-living crisis, and argued that this incentive doesn’t go far enough to address the challenges working people face.

It called on the executive to actively campaign for government funding of buses in local communities, to work with labour link to lobby for more sustainable bus services to protect members’ jobs and to work with elected mayors to promote efficient transport networks.

The article Water, energy and transport conference held in Liverpool first appeared on the UNISON National site.

Blog: I urge members to make sure they have their say on pay

UNISON members working for the Environment Agency, together with Scottish health members, are being consulted on their respective pay offers.

If you’re an NHS worker in Scotland, you only have a few days left to have your say on the 5% pay offer. UNISON, along with other health unions, asked for an above inflation pay award, so we’re asking members to reject the pay deal.

For EA members, the consultative ballot that opened this week closes on 2 September. The agency is underfunded, and its workers are undervalued and underpaid.

I’ve said before that poverty is created by political choices – and pay is decided by choices too. Choices are made by the Cabinet Office about how much money the agency gets to protect the environment, support our communities and reward staff.

I urge our EA members to reject the insulting pay offer of 2% plus £345, which follows a 0% rise for most staff in 2021, which itself came after a decade of below inflation pay deals.

Unsurprisingly, workers in both the NHS and the EA are suffering from the cost of living crisis. Wages are thousands of pounds below where they would be now if they’d kept up with inflation over the last decade. Earning enough to live in the present and plan for the future is not a reality for most public service workers.

NHS and EA staff work in very different circumstances, but have the shared aim of protecting people’s health. Their work is interlinked, as a poor environment doesn’t support a healthy population. Losing staff because of poor wages and declining standards of living is a risk to everyone.

Our members are always key to delivering huge public programmes that benefit millions, whether it’s the COVID vaccine roll out, or huge flood defence improvement programmes. Their work is always 24/7.

Squeezing public sector budgets undermines the ability of both the NHS and the agency to protect people, support our communities, and reward staff to make sure experienced and skilled staff are retained.

The government needs to put its money where its mouth is and recognise the value to our society of having well-paid, well-resourced workforces able to deliver every day and ready to deal with crises when they come.

Until they do, we need to keep up the pressure and make sure every member responds to our consultations.

You will have received an email ballot, but if you haven’t, then contact UNISON Direct on 0800 0 857 857.

The article Blog: I urge members to make sure they have their say on pay first appeared on the UNISON National site.

UNISON recommends that EA members reject ‘insulting’ offer

UNISON members working for the Environment Agency (EA) are being consulted on the latest pay offer, with the union recommending that they reject the employer’s offer of 2%, plus a £345 one-off consolidated payment, and take part in industrial action to seek improvements.

The offer falls short of the claim the EA unions jointly submitted in March this year and follows a 0% rise for most staff in 2021 after a decade of below inflation pay rises.

UNISON national secretary Donna Rowe-Merriman said: “EA Members are seeing this offer as an insult – especially as offers for other public sector workers are higher.

“The EA is underfunded, and staff feel undervalued and underpaid. How much money the agency receives to protect the environment, support our communities, and reward staff, is decided by political choices made by the UK government.

“The money is there for the EA to be properly resourced – including staff salaries.”

Ms Rowe-Merriman noted that, in the last two years, members have seen attacks on their terms and conditions, as well as a “lack of parity in pay between field operations staff and other staff grades.”

She said: “The government needs to put its money where its mouth is and recognise the value to our society of having a well-paid, well-resourced workforce, able to deliver environmental protection 24/7 and protect communities in times of environmental crisis.”

UNISON members are being consulted via an online ballot, which is running from 1 August to 2 September 2022.

Visit the campaign page

The article UNISON recommends that EA members reject ‘insulting’ offer first appeared on the UNISON National site.