Anglian Water and United Utilities are facing the prospect of strike action later this week as a result of union protests over the closure of final salary pension schemes.

Britain’s largest union, Unite, has accused Anglian Water of seeking to provoke strike action after the water company refused to enter talks at the conciliation service Acas over the closure of its final salary pension scheme.

According to Unite, over 5,000 workers at Anglian Water are affected by the pension scheme’s proposed closure, which could see some losing up to £100,000 should the new planned defined contribution pension scheme fail to deliver. A further 3,700 workers are affected by proposed changes to a separate existing defined contribution scheme.

Unite along with the GMB and Unison held a last ditch meeting with Anglian Water chief executive Peter Simpson last week where the water chief refused a request to meet at Acas to resolve the dispute, Unite said.

Commenting Unite regional officer Adam Oakes said:

“Anglian Water bosses are pocketing millions in pay while hiking up bills for customers and attacking the hard earned pensions of workers.

“Rather than entering into talks, management is trying to railroad through pension changes which could see some lose up to £100,000 in retirement income. The offer of a derisory £600 in compensation, at a time when Anglian Water is paying out millions to shareholders, is an insult to a loyal workforce.

“Pensions are workers’ deferred wages enabling them to provide for themselves and their loved ones in retirement. We would urge bosses at Anglian Water to stop seeking confrontation and start listening to its workforce by engaging in talks with the trade unions at Acas.”

Responding to the unions’ position, an Anglian Water spokesperson said:

“There is no reason to go to ACAS while the unions refuse to be open about what support there is for their position, if any.

“In contrast, more than 2,000 colleagues took part in our consultation on the creation of our new pension scheme. We drew on the expertise of advisors from across the sector to create a fair package for all that is widely understood and accepted by our staff.

“We simply do not believe the Unions have support for their position. They’ve refused to share turnout numbers, and emails canvassing opinion have not even given employees the option to accept the generous deal we’ve put on the table. Their posturing is wholly unrepresentative of people who work at Anglian Water.”

Anglian Water said the unions had chosen to turn down on behalf of all 5,000 employees – an offer of a guaranteed 6% (3+3) pay increase over two years, and a one-off payment to every affected member of the old Defined Benefit scheme, adding:

“ We know the vast majority of our employees support our changes because 3,500 of them have already signed up to accept or make changes to their new flexible pension and benefits package.”

United Utilities “disappointed” that unions have asked members to walk out for two days

United Utilities has separately said it is “disappointed” that Unite, Unison and Prospect have asked their members to walk out for two days. Around a third of employees are involved, The firm has plans in place to keep services running as normal.

In a statement, the water company said:

“Many companies have found that final salary pension schemes have become much more expensive to fund and United Utilities is no exception. The costs of keeping our company scheme open are predicted to keep on rising to unsustainable levels.

The unions helped to shape the final version of the new scheme. Rather than scrap the defined benefit scheme as planned, we agreed to introduce a hybrid scheme, which will cost us considerably more. So, we have made considerable concessions already and hope that the unions will show a similar desire to compromise.”

Industrial action at both Anglian Water and United Utilities is planned for 16th and 19th March.