Now binmen at 15 councils to strike
BIN workers at 15 Scottish councils are to go on strike this month as fears grow over rubbish piling high in the streets.
Some 250 staff at City of Edinburgh Council have already said they plan to walk out over a pay dispute on August 18 and 30 – at the height of the city’s festival season.
Now union bosses have said a further 1,500 members at 15 councils – including Glasgow, Aberdeen, Highland and Dundee – will strike on August 24 and 31.
This was prompted by a ‘pitiful’ 2 per cent pay offer from local authority body Cosla, the union said.
Unite regional officer Wendy Dunsmore said staff had ‘had enough of substandard settlements and deserve a decent wage’ to counter the effects of the cost of living crisis.
‘The failure of both Cosla and the Scottish Government to work to bring an improved offer to the table that could have halted this action means any blame for where we are now should be directed back to them,’ she added.
Deputy First Minister John Swinney has said the Scottish Government has pledged to increase Cosla’s annual budget by £140million so it can improve the pay offers.
A spokesman for Cosla said: ‘We held constructive discussions with the Scottish Government last week. Leaders met on Friday and at this meeting agreed that they needed further information.
‘Given the importance of a pay award, council leaders wanted further clarification from both the Scottish Government and the UK Government and will reconvene this week to further consider this.’
Taxpayers now face a summer peppered with strikes.
Yesterday, around 100 workers at Grangemouth oil refinery walked out in a ‘wildcat strike’ over pay. Maintenance staff, who are members of the Engineering Construction Industry Association, blocked a road used by tankers getting in and out of the Ineos site.
It supplies two-thirds of fuel for forecourts in Scotland.
Last year, workers at the refinery agreed to a 5 per cent pay rise over two years. But with inflation expected to rise to 11 per cent by 2022, they want to reopen negotiations.
The Communication Workers Union has said around 11,000 members in Scotland will walk out on August 26 and 31 and September 8 and 9. It warned this means all Royal Mail deliveries and collections will be ‘shut down’ across Scotland during the action.
And RMT members have rejected a pay offer from Network Rail that would have given train workers, ticket inspectors and station staff a 5 per cent rise. Travel chaos is expected on August 18 and 20 as a result of strike action.