Thames Water chief to meet union bosses over job cut fears
THE chief executive of Thames Water is to hold a meeting with union officials amid fears over potential job cuts.
Chris Weston will seek to reassure representatives from GMB, Unite and Unison today, days after shareholders cut off vital funding.
Thames Water’s owners last week refused to provide a £500m cash injection before the end of this month, stoking fears of a potential collapse.
Union officials are now pushing for assurances over employees’ job security, although a source said Thames bosses had so far been “non-committal”.
Any breakdown in relations would raise the prospect of industrial action.
Gary Carter, GMB National Officer, said the unions will meet to “demand there are no cuts to workforce numbers – or terms and conditions”.
He said: “Any cost-cutting measures being considered by Thames will only be a sticking plaster and will not address the root cause of the company’s problems – a lack of investment by shareholders stretching back decades.”
An internal memo was sent to all Thames Water staff last week to reassure employees that the “business continues to operate as usual” despite the latest development.
In the memo, Mr Weston said: “I want to reassure you again that there are no changes to the services we offer or your jobs. We remain in a solid financial position.
“I know it can be hard when there is so much speculation – not all of it well-informed. My ask of you continues to be not to let this distract you and instead to focus on delivering life’s essential services and our turnaround plan.” However, despite the claims, union officials have raised the alarm over prospective redundancies given Thames’ finances, as the supplier is burdened by an £18bn debt mountain.
The Telegraph revealed late last year that the supplier was scrapping 300 roles in an attempt to shore up its strained balance sheet.
At the time, a spokesman said it had to make “more difficult but necessary decisions to ensure we continue to deliver on our budgets”.
The situation has since worsened after Thames’ owners – a consortium of pension funds and foreign states – pulled the plug on a £500m funding package, claiming that regulator Ofwat had rendered the business “uninvestable” by refusing to allow substantial bill rises.
Thames Water was contacted for comment.