GMB members have stepped up their industrial action in the current pensions dispute at Northern Ireland Water.

The GMB said the withdrawal of all goodwill will now mean serious disruption as members will not respond to any calls outside of normal working hours.

GMB and the other two unions in the water group of trade unions have announced the termination of a protocol designed to avoid water shortages over Christmas and New Year in the dispute over pensions at Northern Ireland Water.

Between the 23 December and 4 January union members responded to a number of critical incidents ensuring that the overwhelming majority of customers did not feel the impact of industrial action. The unions have now announced the ending of this arrangement.

More than 1,000 workers represented by NIPSA, UNITE and GMB have been taking industrial action since 22 December which includes a work-to-rule action. Supply disruptions are likely as at Northern Ireland Water maintain more than 2,700 treatment works and pumping stations.

A union spokesperson on Monday 5th January confirmed that despite significant engagement between the trade unions and NI Water no resolution to the pension dispute has been found. On Monday 5th January union representatives met to discuss the ongoing industrial action and unanimously decided to end all emergency cover with immediate effect meaning staff participating in industrial action will not be asked by the ‘strike committee’ to respond to any incidents outside of working hours.

The unions have also insisted that any further negotiations now take place with the assistance of the Labour Relations Agency.

A spokesperson for the Water Group of Trade Unions said:

 “The last thing our members wanted to do was disrupt water supplies over the holiday period and therefore we agreed a process whereby emergencies would be dealt with however the fact remains that NIW workers face into the New Year with the prospect of being financially worse off than in the past year.”

“The withdrawal of all goodwill will now mean serious disruption as our members will not respond to any calls outside of normal working hours. This inconvenience is completely avoidable and can end if the current proposals regarding the pension scheme are withdrawn.”