Could rubbish pile up in Edinburgh's streets again over festivals due to strikes this summer?

Refuse workers are set to balloted over strike action by two leading unions in a dispute over pay that could threaten to impact on Edinburgh’s festivals this summer.

The GMB union has announced it will ballot cleansing workers after rejecting council umbrella body Cosla’s pay offer to council workers. And Unite - Scotland’s largest union - has separately confirmed it has served industrial action notices to 29 councils in an escalating pay dispute.

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Ballots being run by both unions will open on June 5 and end on July 1, meaning any walkout and subsequent industrial action could start the following month - at the peak of Scotland’s summer festivals season.

It is a similar scenario to two years ago when 12 days of strikes involving workers in waste services, including cleansing and refuse collection, led to mountains of rubbish piling up on the streets of Edinburgh across the capital’s showcase festivals.

Keir Greenaway, GMB Scotland senior organiser in public services, urged council leaders and ministers to act with urgency this time around to avert similar scenes.

The union’s local government committee last week rejected a pay offer from Cosla. The offer amounted to a 2.2 per cent wage increase effective from April 1 to September 30, and a 2 per cent increase for a 12-month period starting on October 1.

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Mr Greenaway said: “Our members have already been forced to wait far too long for an offer that was not close to being acceptable.

“It is deeply frustrating council workers are once again being driven to industrial action to secure a fair offer and the blame for that lies squarely with council leaders and ministers. Why has so much time been wasted? Why are council leaders not already in serious discussions with unions and the Scottish Government about how to fund a fair offer?

“Why on earth should our members in Scotland be asked to accept an offer that is less than that being offered to council colleagues in England?”

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Our members undertake vital frontline jobs. Despite the essential work they do, they have seen their pay eroded for years. They are simply no longer prepared to tolerate this situation.

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“Cosla and the Scottish Government have been warned that they must do far more to meet the pay aspirations of our members. The blame for any strike action taking place will lie at their doors.”

During the strikes in 2022, industrial action spread to other council areas, including Aberdeen, Dundee and Glasgow, under a “second wave” of industrial action, in a co-ordinated bid at the time to persuade the Scottish Government and Cosla to make an improved pay offer.

The only councils not involved in Unite’s ballot process are Clackmannanshire, East Lothian and the Orkney Islands.

A Cosla spokesperson said: “We believe that this is a good offer in the context of inflation and the funding constraints faced by councils. We are disappointed that industrial action is being contemplated by our unions and concerned that it appears to be targeted at the most vulnerable service users.

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“We remain committed to doing the best by our workforce who deliver essential local services in every community across Scotland and understand our trade unions seeking the best deal possible. But this year’s settlement from Scottish Government means that going any further will mean job losses and service cuts.”

Edinburgh City Council leader Cammy Day said: “We’re aware of the potential for industrial action this summer by trade unions. My priority is delivering good-quality public services for the people of Edinburgh all year round, but clearly we want to prevent a repeat of the disruption that affected Scotland’s capital city two years ago.

“We’ll be developing detailed contingency plans ahead of any potential strike action to minimise disruption to council services should it go ahead. I would strongly urge the Scottish Government and Cosla to work with the unions to find a solution and avert any action.”

The looming ballot comes as care staff employed by Scottish councils could separately strike the day before the general election after rejecting a pay offer they say is “too late and too low”.

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Mr Greenaway said: “This election, like all the others, is all about promises, but council workers have been given too many already. 

“They were promised a minimum wage of £15 an hour by 2026, for example, but this pay offer calls that into serious question. They don’t want any more empty promises. They want fair pay.”

The results of the vote involving care staff workers is expected on June 19.

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