WARRINGTON-based United Utilities has come under fire from the GMB union as part of its “Take Back the Tap” campaign to re-nationalise the water industry.
The union claimed that, 30-years on from privatisation, United Utilities “fat cats” had pocketed £2,075,000 last year alone
They claimed company chief executive Steve Mogford had received almost £14 million in salary, bonuses, pensions and other benefits over the past six years – more than £2 million last year alone.
The figures were said to come from a joint investigation into the company accounts by GMB and Corporate Watch.
GMB general secretary Tim Roache said: “Thirty years on from Margaret Thatcher’s privatisation of water it’s clear this ideological experiment is a complete flop.
“Customers are forking out millions to private water’s top brass through their ever increasing bills, while billions of gallons are wasted every year and we get whacked by hosepipe bans in the summer. I’m not sure how much more evidence is needed to show that this is just not working.
“It’s time to Take Back the Tap – water is a natural monopoly, that every home, family and individual needs, it should be in public hands not used for shareholder profit.”
A United Utilities spokesperson said: “Steve Mogford’s remuneration is directly linked to the delivery of stretching targets for customer service and environmental performance and United Utilities has achieved leading status in both.
“Customer bills have fallen in real terms over the last 10 years – and will continue falling over the next five years; we have met or beaten our leakage targets for the last 13 years in a row; and in this current five year price review period we will have spent over £150 million to support 147,000 financially vulnerable customers.”
Union attack on United Utilities over “fat cat” salaries
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