Schools remain closed as equal pay strike enters second day
Thousands of council workers took to the streets of Glasgow yesterday in one of the biggest strikes over equal pay seen in the UK
Schools and nurseries were closed and home care services disrupted as thousands of council workers took to the streets of Glasgow in one of the biggest strikes over equal pay seen in the UK.
The widespread disruption in Scotland’s biggest city is expected to continue today due to the 48-hour strike, which involves more than 8,000 members of the Unison and GMB unions.
Those taking part said they were angry at Glasgow City Council for a “lack of progress” on around 12,500 equal pay claims involving women who have done essential jobs for years.
The claims arose from a pay and conditions scheme introduced by the local authority more than a decade ago, which campaigners say led to women being paid up to £3 an hour less than men.
The Snp-led council administration said it would settle the claims after the Court of Session ruled that the scheme had been unfair on female workers, but since then negotiations have stalled.
As a result of the strike, all mainstream primary schools, nurseries and additional support schools were closed, with catering services at secondary schools also affected. Home carers who help elderly and vulnerable people with washing, dressing and preparing meals also took part in the walkout, while some cafés in public buildings were disrupted.
Many strikers manned picket lines around the city and later joined a march from Glasgow Green to George Square for a rally, chanting “equal pay or we walk away”.
Workers on the picket line at the Mitchell Library hoped the strike will put pressure on the council to speed up the negotiation process.
Anna Murray, a cleaning supervisor at the library who has worked there for 25 years, said: “We’ve waited ten years for equal pay and the council doesn’t seem to be doing anything to pay it so we’ve gone out on strike in support of getting our equal pay paid.
“We hope that the council speed things up and gets equal pay for the people that are waiting for it.”
Annette Tompson, another cleaning supervisor at the Mitchell, where she has worked for 17 years, added: “It has been taking a long long time, we’ve been to the employment tribunal, to the court, to the Court of Session and they have found in our favour and and the council are still not paying us.
“They know we are due the money but it is really dragging on.”
GMB Scotland organiser Rhea Wolfson said the voices of Glasgow’s working women were being “heard around the world after decades of rampant sex discrimination”.
One of those on strike was care worker Debbie Mcgrath, who said the campaign for equal pay had been going on for so long that some of her colleagues had died.
“The council know they have been in the wrong for a long time. We’re out here heavyhearted, leaving our clients, our clients are more than just our clients...they become part of your family,” she said.
“It’s hard for us, but we’ve got to do what’s right for us and our families.”
Glasgow City Council leader Susan Aitken said there was “no need” for the strike, which she admitted would have a “devastating impact” on essential services.
“They won their case the day that the SNP was elected to lead Glasgow City Council and we have been working ever since then to deliver them justice,” she told the BBC.
“We are extremely close to it and I am confident that they will get the settlement that they are entitled to and we will start paying out in the next financial year.”
“[Glasgow’s working women are being] heard around the world after decades of rampant sex discrimination” RHEA WOLFSON GMB Scotland organiser