Members of the Unite, Unison and GMB Scotland unions have voted for strike action after rejecting the latest pay offer.
Scottish Water workers across Dumfries and Galloway will down tools on Friday due to a pay dispute.
Members of the Unite, Unison and GMB Scotland unions have voted for strike action after rejecting the latest pay offer.
Unite say the deal on the table is worth 3.4 per cent or a minimum of £1,050 for the lowest workers paid workers over a nine month period.
The utility firm claims the deal is 3.4 per cent for 2024/25, with a guaranteed minimum of £1,400, and a further 3.15 per cent for 2025/26.
The strike action is going ahead after Scottish Water met with all three unions on Monday.
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Unison Scottish Water branch secretary, Tricia McArthur, said: “Strike action is always a last resort and no one wants to see services disrupted. But staff feel they’ve been left with no choice.
“Industrial relations at Scottish Water are at an all-time low.
“The workforce is being run down and under-utilised while work is transferred – at an increased cost – to private contractors.
“This is backdoor privatisation.
“Scottish Water workers deserve to be paid fairly for the services they provide. It’s important this vital publicly-owned service that so many rely on is protected, as are its dedicated workforce.”
Unite industrial officer, Sam Ritchie, added: “Scottish Water has strung our members along while taking pay offers off the table and replacing them with a watered-down one.
“That is unacceptable and our members won’t stand for this anymore.
“Industrial action will inevitably result in disruption to services but this is entirely the fault of Scottish Water’s management who have had every opportunity to resolve this dispute but have chosen not to.”
As a result of Friday’s strike action, unions say emergency repairs and water quality checks, as well as any problems reported by customers, won’t be dealt with until Saturday.
“The utility firm says it has contingency plans in place.
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A Scottish Water spokesperson said: “We are very disappointed that we have still not been able to reach an agreement with the trade unions.”
“We would encourage them to restart meaningful negotiations as soon as possible and to recognise the need to agree on a sustainable pay award for our people.
“No-one benefits from industrial action and our focus is on continuing to deliver for our millions of customers across Scotland.
“Our above-inflation pay offer is fair and progressive, prioritising the highest percentage increases in the business for those on the lowest salary grades – money that should be in employees’ pockets now.
“We have improved the offer in an effort to reach an agreement with the trade unions and we are now offering a combined deal for 2024/25 and 2025/26.
“This is a strong offer which is above inflation and the public sector pay policy.”