Ryan FowlerA recent survey conducted by GMB has highlighted a troubling increase in abuse faced by workers in the water sector, linking it directly to public dissatisfaction over sewage dumping and pollution. Nearly half of the 1,300 workers surveyed reported experiencing severe incidents, including being attacked with machetes, suffering broken jaws, and being deliberately splashed with raw sewage.
The survey also shed light on significant issues within the sector, with a subset of respondents revealing that over 21% had observed unreported sewage spills in the past year. Moreover, less than 20% of the workers surveyed believe the physical infrastructure of wastewater treatment works and the sewage network is maintained well enough to minimize leaks or discharges. Alarmingly, about 22% of workers disclosed that they had been encouraged to underreport sewage spills or knew of colleagues who had.
Gary Carter, GMB National Officer, provided a stark commentary on the situation, saying, “No one should go to work and face abuse. But this situation is horrifying, because the negligent actions of water bosses in allowing sewage dumping to rocket has exposed their own workers to physical and verbal violence. In many cases, water bosses are actively discouraging the reporting of spills – which is a complete dereliction of duty. GMB demands a zero tolerance approach to the abuse of water workers – and calls on water shareholders to fork out for the desperately needed infrastructure to stop record sewage spills.”
Testimonies from GMB members offer a glimpse into the daily realities faced by these workers, including physical assaults by minors, an employee attacked with a machete with little to no follow-up on the incident, and another violently assaulted leading to weeks off work due to a broken jaw. Such incidents have resulted in a growing reluctance among workers to interact with the public or work alone in certain areas, further exacerbated by instances of verbal abuse and harassment, even for those simply wearing their work uniform in public.
