Cleansing staff protest over depot closure
DOZENS of cleansing staff have held a protest over the closure of a depot in Glasgow’s East End. The Baltic Street depot in Dalmarnock is scheduled to close at the end of March with staff expected to work more than four miles away at another site in Queenslie.
We previously reported that workers opposing the move argue that they will now have to fork out at least £60 a month to cover travel costs. They held a demonstration outside the Baltic Street depot on Monday afternoon.
Their new site Queenslie was also deemed not “fit for purpose” by the union responsible for the workers – although Glasgow City Council argues that work is ongoing at the depot to upgrade the building for the incoming staff.
GMB Scotland Organiser Rhea Wolfson said: “The message from the community and the workforce is loud and clear: ‘Enough is enough’.
“Glasgow has a waste crisis and the working conditions of the staff are Dickensian, yet the council’s solution is to transfer 60 cleansing workers into a building that’s falling to bits.
“Compounding this misery is the fact that management won’t even properly consult with the workers about these plans, treating employees with utter contempt.
“This is what austerity looks like and both the service and the city desperately needs investment to tackle the impact of over a decade of cuts to the local budget. But we are also clear that Glasgow City Council cannot afford to address these problems on their own – help is needed from central government.
“And I’d say to them, just look at the conditions facing these workers and their communities. It’s time for politicians who have passed on the cuts and starved the coffers to start paying Glasgow back.
“They can do so in the coming weeks as the budgets of both Scotland and Glasgow are set.”
A spokesman for the council explained that the decision to consolidate the east city services around the Queenslie depot is part of a strategy to operate the local authority’s land and property as sustainably as possible. The spokesman added: “We are currently working on an overall plan for our depots that will see significant investment in the Queenslie depot in future. “Consolidating operations at our depot in Queenslie will help us to deliver more efficient and effective services for taxpayers in Glasgow East.
“Staff are employed on a citywide contract that can see them deployed from any depot.”