Glasgow council cleansing workers warn of Christmas walk-out

The union says calls for a one-off ‘Glasgow payment’ have been refused, however Glasgow City Council has agreed to review the value of pay of all workers on the lowest grades and pursue investment in cleansing infrastructure.

Staff will return to work tomorrow (Tuesday 9 November) after eight days on strike, but they have asked for a fresh ballot, raising the possibility of further industrial action.

GMB Scotland senior organiser Keir Greenaway said: “It is important to understand that strikes don’t happen by accident.

“They are a consequence of workers’ feeling undervalued, disrespected and ignored for too long, and it’s clear that a few days of talks and the initial outcomes from this aren’t enough to remedy the impact of a decade of cuts.”

The city SNP group’s workforce convener, Cllr Allan Casey, said there had been “constructive” talks with the GMB, and the offer would “improve local workforce relationships”.

Bin workers held a rally in George Square today to mark the last day of their strike.

There have been talks between the GMB and council leader Susan Aitken over the weekend, and the union has now said it has secured a commitment to a review of the value of pay for workers on grades one, two and three — currently earning less than £20,000 a year.

It also said there was an agreement to look at investment in cleansing infrastructure and resources and new employee development measures to “address management mistreatment of staff”.

But the GMB says the council refused a one-off payment for workers on the lowest grades, which was proposed to address “the cost-of-living crisis being faced by many council workers”.

Mr Greenaway said: “It’s taken a strike to get Glasgow’s leadership in the room and acknowledge the council’s chronic low pay problems, the waste crisis in our communities and the toxic management culture in the cleansing department.

“Our members in cleansing, like so many of their colleagues in other services like home care, school support, parks and gardens, and Glasgow Life, are the backbone of the city’s workforce but they are struggling on wages that simply do not make ends meet.

“It’s why our members have demanded a fresh ballot, which could mean a second wave of strikes in the run up to Christmas. They want more to be done to properly value key workers and tackle the significant service and workforce challenges facing their city.

“That’s something the council, COSLA and ultimately the Scottish Government should reflect on today because it’s very clear this anger isn’t going away until these problems are confronted.”

Cllr Casey said: “The council leader and I have held a series of constructive meetings and discussions with GMB officials.

“We put forward an offer on Friday and updated it on Saturday. It is an offer which will improve local workforce relationships, bring unions more into decision making, provide training and support for a range of staff and offer overtime to deal with the backlog created by the strike.

“We also offered to look at whether lower graded staff require an interim arrangement, if it does not impact our equal pay commitments, until a new pay and grading scheme is in place.

“We await a response from the GMB about whether this offer has been accepted or not. The strike is due to end this evening and the council will put in place a plan to recover from its impact.”

The GMB is also consulting members on the national pay offer from the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA), which was submitted before the strike began.

COSLA proposed a pay rise of 5.8% for the lowest paid workers, as part of a £1062 rise for all staff earning below £25,000. Unions then announced planned strikes by local government workers across the country had been suspended while consultation on the deal took place.

However, Glasgow’s cleansing department decided it wanted to continue with industrial action and workers walked out from November 1.