Bins chaos set to spread from east to west

Published on Saturday 1 August 2009 20:01

THE bins chaos hitting the capital is set to spread across the country. Unions yesterday said Glasgow council workers, including street sweepers, roads and park staff, would go out on indefinite strike on 10 August.

Insiders said hundreds of refuse collections are almost certain to be dragged into the dispute because they won't cross picket lines.

The strike, led by Unison, GMB and Unite, is over "life-changing" alterations to shift patterns. It comes on top of an unofficial dispute in Edinburgh that has left many residents complaining their bins have not been emptied for weeks.

More than 1,000 binmen in the capital are working to rule because of changes to the way they are paid, changes they claim would see their wages cut from 18,000 to 12,000.

Officials in Edinburgh yesterday unveiled contingency plans to tidy up the city as it prepares to welcome thousands of tourists for the festival season.

A private contractor has been employed to cover the overtime that council employees would normally do, working through the night. Council leader Jenny Dawe said: "It is of the utmost importance that the city is as safe and clean as possible for festival season. Through the range of measures we have put in place, a visible difference in the cleanliness of the city will be obvious almost immediately."

Some members of the public have been losing patience over the dispute, claiming their bins have not been collected for weeks. Dawe said there have been a number of incidences involving bins being vandalised and council property damaged, and she called on people to keep calm until the row is resolved.

Festivals Edinburgh director Faith Liddell said it appreciated the steps taken by the council. "With council employees working normal daytime shifts, and a private contractor in place through the night, the council is now providing a 24/7 operation throughout the festival period for street cleaning and litter bin emptying," she said.

"Effectively, a larger cleaning programme than ever before is now in place for the festivals. With these measures in place, and healthy advance sales across all of the summer festivals, we are confident that everyone will have the enjoyable experience that only Edinburgh and its festivals can deliver, year after year."

City leaders in Edinburgh have been smarting over the industrial action, which has left the capital looking filthy just as it was inundated with tourists, first for the Clan Gathering last weekend, and now for the festivals, which garner a million visitors a year.

The strike announcement in Glasgow follows months of talks and a ballot by union members. Martin Doran, Scottish organiser of the GMB, said rubbish would quickly pile up because of the strike.

He added: "The impact on this city is going to be catastrophic with the prospect of rubbish quickly mounting up and uncollected. I don't take any pleasure in this, but this is a recipe for a real health hazard if we don't get the situation resolved.

"I am making a cry to the council that sanity prevails in this situation and I should point out that our members don't want to partake in industrial action and lose hard-earned cash, but feel they are being forced to do that."

Robert Booth, Glasgow City Council's executive director of land and environmental services, formally informed the workers involved in the strike that they would be sacked back in May.

However, he said all would be re-employed on new contracts with no cuts in salary or overtime. Booth yesterday said: "It is disappointing that, at a time when others are losing their jobs, our workforce has rejected a deal which not only improves the service we provide to the public but also protects jobs and wages.

"A strike will inevitably have an impact on the services we deliver, but I can assure the public that we will do everything we can to minimise disruption.

"I am less confident, however, that a strike will not harm the department and its strong claim on being the workforce best able to deliver services that authorities all over Britain are currently considering outsourcing to the private sector."