Bin strikes back on for COP

BIN workers in Glasgow were proceeding with strike action last night as world leaders landed in the city centre for the first day of COP26.

More than 100 world leaders are expected to arrive in Glasgow today as the first day of the two-day World Leaders’ Summit takes place at the UN climate conference.

The planned strike action was previously called off on Friday after a new pay offer was given from Cosla.

Then, the GMB said it would suspend the strike for two weeks to consult with members.

Yesterday, GMB Scotland secretary Louise Gilmour accused Glasgow City Council of having “failed to give our members the proper time and space to consider the 11th hour offer from Cosla”.

She said there is “too much bad faith among members” towards the council. “Therefore, our members in cleansing have informed us that they will still proceed with the planned strike action from 00.01 hours on November 1. We are calling for an urgent meeting with the council as soon as possible and we will work until one-minute to midnight tonight to try and fix this. We have also made the Scottish Government aware of the situation and are liaising with the First Minister’s Office, but without any further dialogue the cleansing service in Glasgow City Council will take strike action from tomorrow and throughout the first full week of the COP26 summit.”

A spokesperson for the council said: “The agreement struck at national level gave two weeks to consider the pay offer and so there is no reason for this strike to go ahead at this time.

“It is very disappointing the GMB has opted for this course of action, which now seems to be about allocating time for meetings rather than a pay agreement.

“We will meet with the GMB at any time to try and resolve what now appears to be a local dispute.”