The dispute is over changes Northumbrian Water is planning to make to its defined benefit pension scheme. On 20 October, balloted workers voted by 61 per cent in favour of strike action and by 80 per cent for industrial action short of a strike.
The 24-hour strike was planned to start at 8am on Monday 26 October, with 44 Unite members at the Tees Dock Road sewage treatment works in Middlesbrough and the Northumberland Dock Road sewage treatment works in Wallsend downing tools.
A spokesman for Northumbrian Water said the company received a letter from Unite regional officer Pat McCourt dated 22 October, calling for the strike at Tees Dock Road to be postponed due to “health and safety concerns” but the letter does not specify when the strike will take place.
Also ongoing is indefinite industrial action short of a strike, including a call out ban and a ban on overtime, across all the company’s sites featuring around 100 members of the GMB and Unite trade unions.