Strike Action in Glasgow as UCI Championships start
UCI World Cycling Championships get underway but in Glasgow prepare to strike over pay.
As the championship began today at the Chris Hoy Velodrome visitors where met with striking workers outside the venue.
Unite union members have voted in favour of 48 hours of strike action, including Emirates Arena staff and traffic wardens.
The industrial action is due to began at 7.30am, in a protest over poor pay. Glasgow Life, the charity which runs leisure facilities on behalf of the city council, is now trying to put plans in place to make sure the event can go ahead without disruption.
There are around 70 Unite members who work for Glasgow Life at the Emirates Arena, as well as wardens for City Parking.
Pickets are planned outside the arena and at Cadogan Square Car Park, to coincide with the industrial action.
And, both groups met for a rally at midday at the top of Buchanan Street, next to the statue of Scotland's inaugural First Minister, Donald Dewar.
Unite General Secretary, Sharon Graham, said: “City Parking and Glasgow Life workers have no option but to take strike action. They deserve a fair pay award rather than a significant real terms pay cut.”
Unite Scotland’s Industrial Officer, Graham McNab, said: “The 48-hour strike action by our members at Glasgow Life and City Parking is a clear warning to COSLA and the Scottish Government. The disruption beginning in Glasgow could spread over large parts of the country involving thousands of key council workers.
“We repeat our calls for the Scottish Government to directly intervene because we are at an impasse, and the only way this dispute will be resolved is if an improved offer is put on the table for workers who deserve better from their elected representatives.”
Unite members rejected the 5% pay rise offered by COSLA for 2023, during a ballot held in May, with 84% of members voting against it. The rise is less than half the current rate of broader inflation, which sits at 10.7%.
A spokesperson for Glasgow Life said: “Following confirmation of strike action we are looking at how this may impact our delivery of the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships and where we can put contingency plans in place to mitigate against such action.”
As the championship began today at the Chris Hoy Velodrome visitors where met with striking workers outside the venue.
Unite union members have voted in favour of 48 hours of strike action, including Emirates Arena staff and traffic wardens.
The industrial action is due to began at 7.30am, in a protest over poor pay. Glasgow Life, the charity which runs leisure facilities on behalf of the city council, is now trying to put plans in place to make sure the event can go ahead without disruption.
There are around 70 Unite members who work for Glasgow Life at the Emirates Arena, as well as wardens for City Parking.
Pickets are planned outside the arena and at Cadogan Square Car Park, to coincide with the industrial action.
And, both groups met for a rally at midday at the top of Buchanan Street, next to the statue of Scotland's inaugural First Minister, Donald Dewar.
Unite General Secretary, Sharon Graham, said: “City Parking and Glasgow Life workers have no option but to take strike action. They deserve a fair pay award rather than a significant real terms pay cut.”
Unite Scotland’s Industrial Officer, Graham McNab, said: “The 48-hour strike action by our members at Glasgow Life and City Parking is a clear warning to COSLA and the Scottish Government. The disruption beginning in Glasgow could spread over large parts of the country involving thousands of key council workers.
“We repeat our calls for the Scottish Government to directly intervene because we are at an impasse, and the only way this dispute will be resolved is if an improved offer is put on the table for workers who deserve better from their elected representatives.”
Unite members rejected the 5% pay rise offered by COSLA for 2023, during a ballot held in May, with 84% of members voting against it. The rise is less than half the current rate of broader inflation, which sits at 10.7%.
A spokesperson for Glasgow Life said: “Following confirmation of strike action we are looking at how this may impact our delivery of the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships and where we can put contingency plans in place to mitigate against such action.”
Transcript
00:00 [Music]
00:19 My name's Claire, I am the Unite shop steward for the venue.
00:23 I'm a Glasgow Life assistant in the venue.
00:25 So today and tomorrow we will be carrying out a 48 hour strike.
00:30 This is due to a poor pay offer, so we're looking to get a better offer.
00:37 The talks between ourselves, the unions and the COSLA and the Scottish Government have unfortunately broken down a bit.
00:44 The Tory Government down in England are actually offering a better pay rise to their local authority workers than we've been offered up here in Scotland.
00:51 Particularly for the lowest paid.
00:53 We're disappointed. The work we do is vital to the people of Glasgow.
01:01 We provide a great service in the centres.
01:04 Plus to the city as a whole, to have a world class sporting venue, it brings a lot to the city.
01:11 It's really beneficial and we feel that we deserve to be paid a decent wage for delivering these services.
01:19 As the venue staff, we do a lot to contribute to events running.
01:24 So I'd like to think that they will miss us.
01:28 We're looking for the Scottish Government to come and speak to us, otherwise we will be forced to take further action.
01:33 Nobody wants to strike and unfortunately we feel that it's the last resort that we've got at the moment.
01:39 So we would be open to further industrial action if there's no further talks and no better offer coming out.
01:45 We're struggling. Big time. There's a cost of living crisis on at the moment.
01:49 And workers deserve enough money to pay their bills and still live.
01:53 No local authority worker or any worker in Scotland should be relying on food banks or charity handouts.
01:59 Everyone should be making enough money to live off of.
02:02 Chris Mitchell AK Ramboy here standing proudly beside the City of Portland workers.
02:09 Day one of day two on strike. Absolutely phenomenal.
02:13 You should be proud of yourselves. We are taking the fight to the Scottish Government and COSLA.
02:17 Demanding a better pay rise for public sector workers right across Scotland.
02:23 We will never sit back, we will always fight back.
02:26 The solidarity and the camaraderie is only getting bigger and bigger and bigger.
02:32 So solidarity, yes!
02:36 My name is Sean Bailey, I am the regional organiser for GMB Scotland.
02:39 And we are here today out with the parking attendants who are on strike over this year's pay offer from COSLA and the Scottish Government.
02:46 What sort of message would you have for the council or even the government?
02:50 I think more money needs to be put on the table.
02:53 Council workers in England and Wales have had a higher pay offer than us this year.
02:57 I think if the Scottish Government and COSLA want to maintain their progressive credentials they need to at least match that going forward.
03:04 So some of the words that we were getting off them was a bit of despair, a lack of hope.
03:08 They think that they have been abandoned to a large degree.
03:11 And I think part of the cycling championships and COP26 and the different events that are put on for the city, there is a growing feeling amongst the workforce, the general population,
03:21 is that these are things that are done to the city rather than for the city.
03:24 And that spells out any general maintenance or upkeep of the city.
03:28 It's one of the things that GMB has said for a long time.
03:31 And the parking attendance has been some really good points where the lack of road maintenance, the lack of signs and lines on the roads,
03:38 causes that frustration to spill over into the public, the workers, it causes a divide.
03:43 And really they are both feeling the effect.
03:46 I mean we want to try and bring everybody together in the next couple of days, make that point that events in the city need to be for the city,
03:52 but it also needs to be in support of the workers who do a fantastic job day in day out for the city.
03:57 What do you have in the pipeline as a further dispute on the horizon?
04:01 Yes, so GMB Scotland, we have recently abolished our members in schools.
04:05 So caterers, cleaners, janitors, support workers, they have a fresh mandate for strike action.
04:10 So if this isn't enough to bring COSLA and the Scottish Government to the table,
04:14 we will be putting notice in for strike action in the schools over the next coming months.
04:17 .
04:18 .
04:19 [BLANK_AUDIO]