THE GREAT COP26 RUBBISH WAR
Now binmen join rail staff in bid to bring city to a halt
A BIN strike threatens to turn Scotland’s biggest city into a ‘giant rubbish dump’ during the Cop26 climate change summit.
Hundreds of refuse workers and cleaning staff in Glasgow are planning to strike from November 1, at the start of the major international gathering.
The GMB union, representing Glasgow City Council employees, has given councils’ umbrella group the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (Cosla) until Monday to table an improved pay offer for workers.
It comes after rail workers voted ‘overwhelmingly’ to take industrial action during Cop26 in an ongoing pay dispute with ScotRail which could cripple the network.
Now fears are growing that the city will be paralysed by transport turmoil and blighted by uncollected rubbish at a time when it will be at the centre of global attention. Around 1,500 staff including refuse collectors, janitors, cleaners and catering workers will walk out on November 1 as the climate summit gets under way.
Concern has been growing for months over fly-tipping and litter in the city, which critics say has been fuelled by charges for the bulk uplift of domestic waste.
Glasgow City Council leader Susan Aitken was criticised for saying the city only needs a ‘spruce up’ before the Cop26 conference.
Her opponents warn that much more radical action is required and have dismissed her claim that much of the problem has been caused by commercial rather than domestic waste.
One council insider said: ‘Charges for bulk uplift were introduced recently and this is being linked with a rise in fly-tipping. There is an argument for it, but a lot of staff think it was bad timing.
‘We could be in a situation where the city is turned into a giant rubbish dump – just as it’s on show to the world.’
GMB bosses had rejected an offer of an £850-a-year pay increase for staff earning up to £25,000.
After negotiations failed, the union confirmed a week-long strike beginning on November 1. The GMB union is instead calling for a £2,000 pay rise for staff.
GMB’s Scotland senior organiser Drew Duffy said: ‘Following Cosla’s failure to table an improved pay offer, GMB has served Glasgow City Council with statutory notice for industrial action in the cleansing service. This will be a seven-day strike action, starting at 12.01am on Monday, November 1, and ending at 11.59pm on Monday, November 8.
‘It will coincide with the Cop26 conference. Further notices will be served on more councils later this week.’
Mr Duffy added: ‘If strike action is to be avoided, then a significantly improved offer must be brought forward to give our key workers proper value.’
Scottish Tory local government spokesman Miles Briggs said: ‘Years of SNP cuts to local authorities such as Glasgow have pushed key workers to breaking point.
‘Susan Aitken might be deluded to think the city only needs a spruce up but the reality is far different. It is time for everyone to get back round the table otherwise chaotic scenes of rubbish being uncollected will overshadow this crucial summit.’
Last night, a spokesman for Glasgow City Council said: ‘These are national, rather than local, pay negotiations and it is difficult to understand why this step has been taken while those negotiations remain ongoing.
‘Cop26 will undoubtedly be a busy and difficult time for the city and its residents. Holding this action only in Glasgow at this time will have disproportionate and unfair local impact in pursuit of a national campaign.
‘We urge them to think again about the timing of this.’
A spokesman for Cosla said: ‘We appreciate everything that local government workers have been doing, and continue to do, to support people and communities during the pandemic and as we begin to recover.
‘We continue with ongoing constructive negotiations.’
Meanwhile, members of the RMT union will walk out for 12 days at midnight on November 1 until midnight on November 12, potentially causing severe disruption to the rail work during Cop26.
Earlier this month, Transport Minister Graeme Dey claimed he had ‘no idea’ why the RMT had decided to strike and claimed the vote to do so was ‘no longer valid’.
The minister called for union members to vote again on whether to take action over the pay dispute, claiming there is a ‘very fair offer’ for ScotRail staff. But RMT Scotland organiser Michael Hogg called the proposed 4.7 per cent increase a ‘lousy, rotten offer’ that required ‘members to sell hardearned terms and conditions in order to get a pay rise’. He added that all ScotRail services could end up being cancelled during Cop26 because of strikes.
Staff on the Caledonian Sleeper, run by Serco, will hold two 24-hour strikes – one from 11.59am on October 31 and one on November 11 from 11.59am.
A ScotRail spokesman said: ‘It’s
‘Workers pushed to breaking point’
extremely disappointing that the RMT have opted to continue with this highly damaging strike action, particularly when a pay offer, negotiated over several weeks, has been made to the trade unions.
‘We’re seeing customers gradually return to Scotland’s railway, but the scale of the financial situation ScotRail is facing is stark.’
It came as lawyers vowed to boycott Scottish Government contingency plans to deal with predicted large numbers of arrests among protesters during Cop26.
Amid an ongoing row over legal aid cuts, the Edinburgh and Glasgow bar associations refused to sign up to a proposed duty solicitor scheme for weekend custody courts.
A Government spokesman said: ‘We have been engaging with the legal profession on an enhanced package of legal aid fees during the period of the Cop26 conference and have responded positively to their proposals.’