Mass water disruption could impact thousands of homes next week due to strike action being taken by NI Water workers.
Unite members working for Northern Ireland’s sole water provider will work to rule on Tuesday, December 10, in a dispute over pay.
This will then escalate to an all out strike on Tuesday, December 16.
The employees are asking for a 5% pay increase and a one-off payment of £1,500, which was received by “all other civil service workers” in 2023/24.
It would be the first strike action to be taken by NI Water employees in a decade.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “It is a disgrace that Northern Ireland water workers are paid just a few pence an hour more than the basic minimum wage.
“Indeed, some of our members had to receive a top-up last year just to make their pay legal.
“These workers are waiting 21 months for a pay increase that all other civil servants received long ago. It is totally unacceptable that the finance minister is now holding up this overdue pay increase.
“Unite is totally focussed on putting the jobs, pay and conditions of its members first and the Northern Ireland water workers will receive the full support of their union.”
Unite has written to Stormont Finance Minister Caoimhe Archibald asking her to approve a business case for the pay increase to avoid the industrial action.
A ballot of NI Water members of the GMB trade union is also due to close at the end of the week. If members back industrial action they could join the walk out with Unite.
NI Water workers took part in strike action in December 2014 through to January 2015 and a review was subsequently carried out by the Utility Regulator on the impact it had.
“The withdrawal of out of hours working meant that faults, which would be repaired quickly in normal circumstances, resulted in failure or shutdown of some plants,” the review stated.
“Shutdowns at water treatment works in these circumstances resulted in consumers losing their water supply.
“At first, the impact of the industrial action was mitigated by a protocol between NI Water and trade unions aimed at protecting public health and vulnerable consumers. On 5 January 2015 the trade unions withdrew their support for the protocol and the situation deteriorated quickly.
“Water supplies to just over 33,000 properties were disrupted for more than six hours. At the peak of the disruption on 19 January 10,600 properties were without water. A total of 13,780 properties went without water for more than twenty-four hours.”
Speaking when industrial action was threatened last month, a Department of Finance spokesperson said: “The pay remit was received by the Department of Finance on 18 November.
“Department of Finance officials are currently completing the normal due diligence to ensure that the NI Water approach to the pay award is affordable enabling essential public services and public sector employment to be sustainably funded going forward.
“The Finance Minister understands the concerns of the unions and the department is progressing the business case as a matter of urgency.”