Tag: GMB union

Bin strikes to hit Edinburgh during Festival Fringe

ALL SET FOR AULD REEKIE – THE SEQUEL

Union tells councils to expect eight days of industrial action

GMB Scotland today confirmed bin strikes will begin within weeks. The union has formally served notice on councils across Scotland to expect eight days of industrial action by members in waste and recycling starting on August 14.

Bins will go unemptied from the smallest villages to the biggest cities, including Glasgow and Edinburgh, where the Fringe and International Festival starts this weekend.

The industrial action comes after pay talks with Cosla, representing Scotland’s councils, stalled. The Scottish Government joined negotiations yesterday [TUESDAY].

Keir Greenaway, GMB Scotland senior organiser in public services, said a rejected pay offer of 3.2% had failed to match the escalating cost of living or the rise offered to council workers in England and Wales.

He said: “We had constructive talks with the Scottish Government and Cosla yesterday but our members are less interested in constructive talks than fair pay.

“The process has gone on too long with too little progress.

“We are more than halfway through the year and there is no more time to waste discussing old offers with new wrapping. Enough is enough.

“Industrial action will start in two weeks unless ministers and local authorities identify the money needed to make an acceptable offer.

“These strikes will be disruptive to all the Scots who rely on our members’ work but would not be necessary if councils had shown a greater urgency and sense of realism.”

Unite announces strike in 18 council areas

Today we served notice to 18 councils that Unite members in Waste and Cleansing, and other services, will strike in 18 councils for 8 days from 14th August.

Strike action is set to begin at 5am on Wednesday 14 August and end at 4:59am on Thursday 22 August at the following 18 councils:

  • Aberdeen City Council
  • Aberdeenshire Council
  • Angus Council
  • City of Edinburgh Council
  • Dumfries & Galloway Council
  • Dundee City Council
  • East Ayrshire Council
  • East Renfrewshire Council
  • Falkirk Council
  • Fife Council
  • Glasgow City Council
  • Inverclyde Council
  • North Ayrshire Council
  • North Lanarkshire Council
  • Renfrewshire Council
  • South Ayrshire Council
  • The Highland Council
  • West Lothian Council.

In Edinburgh

In Edinburgh, all Unite and GMB members in Waste and Cleansing will strike. Unite members in Fleet Services will also strike. Unison’s reballot in Waste and Cleansing opened on 26 July, so results are awaited – this does not impact the timetable of the strike action.

On 24 July, Unison began balloting members across the country in schools, early years and family centres, to prepare for a second wave of strike action if needed. Their ballot closes on 29 August.

Unite local government committee will soon meet to discuss balloting these areas.

Talks with the Scottish Government

Yesterday, Unite officials, including your branch secretary Brian Robertson, and those from Unison and GMB, held ‘positive talks’ with Shona Robison MSP, cabinet secretary for finance and local government and COSLA. Unite warned, however, that a new ‘credible offer’ must be tabled ‘imminently’ and said it would not suspend its scheduled strike action until that occurs.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Thousands of Unite members will take strike action next month unless there is a new credible pay offer put on the table.

“Our membership has waited months for an offer which reflects their professionalism and the dedication which they put into delivering vital local services.”

Scottish council workers offered less

The current COSLA pay offer amounts to a 3.2% increase for a one-year period between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025.

Unite has said the pay offer ‘grossly undervalues’ Scottish council workers in contrast with the offer made to UK counterparts. 

An offer of £1,290 has been made to council workers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland by the National Joint Council (NJC). This equates to a rise of 67 pence per hour or 5.2% for a council worker earning around £25,000 based on a 37-hour week.

Members should note that Unite members south of the border rejected this offer.

In contrast, the COSLA offer of 3.2% equates to £800 or a 41 pence per hour increase. The pay offer difference means that a Scottish council worker would need to earn above £40,000 to match the offer being made to council workers across the UK. This means the lowest paid council workers are being disproportionately hit by COSLA’s current pay offer.  

Graham McNab, Unite industrial officer, added: “Unite stands ready to enter into meaningful negotiations at any time but our members need to see a significant shift in the coming days to avert strike action. Strike action is not yet inevitable but action from the politicians must be imminent.

“There is a window of opportunity to resolve this dispute but the politicians should be under no illusions that our members will take strike action if necessary to secure the pay offer which they deserve.”

The city council commented online: ‘Members of the trade unions GMB & Unite are planning strike action in Edinburgh from 14 – 22 August.

‘Bin collections & street cleaning services will be severely disrupted across the city during this time.’

The following services are not expected to run during the strike: – Waste & recycling collections, including all communal and kerbside bins & boxes – Street cleansing including litter bins – Recycling centres – Flytipping collections – Bulky uplift service – Public toilets.

‘This is a national dispute over pay, with strike action planned in other councils across the country unless agreement is reached. Discussions are ongoing between COSLA, trade unions and the Scottish Government with a view to agreeing a pay deal and resolving the dispute.

‘Please prepare for the strike action by visiting our website regularly for the latest updates and advice. Please tell neighbours, friends and family who may not have heard about the upcoming strike so they can prepare.’

Council Leader calls for urgent resolution to pay dispute

Cammy Day has called on the Scottish Government, COSLA and trade unions to find a solution to the national pay dispute and prevent significant disruption during Edinburgh’s busiest month.

Trade unions Unite the Union and GMB today announced plans for strike action across the waste and cleansing service in the Capital from 14–22 August.

Strike action is planned in other councils across Scotland unless agreement is reached to end the dispute.

Councillor Day said: “I’m disappointed that negotiations between Scottish Government, COSLA and the unions have so far failed to avert this action across Scotland. 

“While acknowledging that talks are ongoing, including yesterday’s meeting with the Cabinet Secretary, urgent progress needs to be made if we are to prevent significant disruption during one of the most important and enjoyable periods in Edinburgh’s calendar.

“I firmly believe that all council colleagues deserve to be paid fairly for the work they do and have every right to take this action and have their voices heard. As the lowest funded council in Scotland, it’s time for the Scottish Government to properly fund our capital city and its services.

“I’m extremely concerned about the impact this will have on bin collections and street cleaning services, as well as the cleanliness of our city. But I want to assure residents that we’ll be doing all we can to minimise any impact on essential services.

“We’ve published advice on our website for residents and businesses on how to safely and responsibly store their waste – and will continue to post updates as the situation develops. I’d ask residents to please share this information with any friends, family or neighbours who may not be online.

“We’ll also be writing out to businesses to encourage them to remind their customers that they can return their litter back to their premises for disposal, and to use reusable packaging where possible. We’re also working with our transport and hospitality partners to ensure visitors are aware of the strike and its impact on the city.

I urge the Scottish Government and COSLA to stay round the table with the unions and find a way of averting, what will be, a hugely damaging dispute for Edinburgh – and for Scotland as a whole.”

For the latest advice, guidance and updates on the strike, please visit the dedicated pages on the council’s website.

Stonegate pubs face closure in Scotland as company issues profit warning

Dozens of much loved pubs across Scotland in serious danger of pulling their last pint, warns GMB Union

Almost 50 Stonegate pubs across Scotland could close after the company issued a profit warning.

As GMB predicted earlier this year – and despite private equity owner TDR’s assurances to a parliamentary select committee in January – Stonegate says there is no guarantee it can continue as a going concern, as it struggles to refinance a £2.2bn debt mountain. 

Stonegate is one of the largest pub companies in the UK, with more than 4,500 pubs and more than 19,000 workers, including brands like Slug and Lettuce, Yates and Walkabout. 

The chain has 45 pubs across Scotland

GMB has written to Lian Byrne MP, chair of the Business and Trade Select Committee, asking him to recall TDR bosses in light of the profit warning. 

Nadine Houghton, GMB National Officer, said: “TDR bosses are private equity gamblers- playing fast and loose with people’s jobs and lives. 

“When their risky ventures go wrong, they swan off to their next project, leaving workers and communities to pick up the pieces. 

“Now, dozens of much loved pubs across Scotland are in serious danger of pulling their last pint. 

“It’s a disgrace.” 

Show of Defiance: British Gas strike ‘rock solid’ as members prepare to burn their contracts

British Gas workers are burning the new contracts to show graphically their defiance of the imposition of hourly pay 15% below the agreed rate, says GMB Union.

Day six of the British Gas strike was ‘rock solid’ as an estimated 7,000 workers downed tools over the company’s plan to sack them all 

Meanwhile angry engineers across the country are set to burn new contracts – which they have been told they must sign, or be fired in March: 

In a show of defiance, engineers across the UK will burn new contracts tomorrow (Friday 22 January) at 10am: 

London: Havering Town Hall, Main Road, RM1 3BB 

Edinburgh: Scottish Gas call centre, 1 Waterfront Avenue, Edinburgh EH5 1SG 

Cardiff: British Gas Customer Call Office, 4 Callaghan Square, Tresillian Way, Cardiff, CF10 5BT 

Windsor: Centrica HQ, Millstream, Maidenhead Road, Windsor, SL4 5GD 

Leeds: British Gas Call Centre, New Bridge House, Leeds, LS11 5BD 

Uddingston: Scottish Gas, Murdock House, 29 Bothwell Road, Uddingston G71 7TW 

Leicester: 195 Aylestone Road, Leicester, LE2 7QJa 

Stockport: British Gas Office, New Bridge Lane, Stockport, SK1 2HQ 

Members across the country – picketing at their vans due to the pandemic – will also be filming and photographing their contracts being burned at the same time.  

Engineers and other workers will also down tools on January 22, 25, 29, 30, 31 and February 1 in anger as profitable British Gas provokes further disruption for its customers.  

British Gas engineers and staff voted overwhelmingly by 89% to strike after boss of parent company Centrica Chris O’Shea threatened to fire them all if they didn’t “accept” cuts to pay and terms and conditions.  

The strikes provoked by the company have caused massive disruption already – with an estimated 100,000 homes waiting for service across the country.  

British Gas parent company Centrica reported an operating profit (before exceptional items and tax) of £901 million in 2019.  

The operating profitability of its UK home heating business rose by 27 per cent in the first six months of 2020.

Justin Bowden, GMB National Secretary, said:  “GMB members at British Gas are burning the new contracts to show graphically their defiance of the imposition of hourly pay 15% below the agreed rate – as well as other changes. 

“This is yet another attempt get through to Mr O’Shea that staff accepting cuts of this magnitude in a profitable company is wishful thinking in the extreme. 

“British Gas has provoked disruption to more than 100,000 households already in the backlog for services. That number will grow due to the seven new strike dates. 

“The company needs to put customers and staff first by abandoning wishful thinking and taking ‘fire and rehire’ off the table. 

Strike action set for British Gas over ‘Fire and Rehire’ plan

Over 1,000 British Gas workers in Scotland will begin five days of strikes from 00.01 hours this morning (Thursday 7 January) as part of the biggest dispute seen in the sector for over forty years.

In a direct response to the ‘fire and rehire’ plan for British Gas operations laid-out by Centrica Plc Group’s Chief Executive Officer Chris O’Shea, over 10,000 GMB members across the UK four nations will take part in the action.

O’Shea has refused to accept efforts by GMB to negotiate a way forward for the business. Instead, after months of talks, workers have been told to accept the slashing of wages and conditions, or face being sacked.

All British Gas divisions and services, including Service & Repair, Electrical Services, Smart Metering, Installations, and Customer Services will be impacted.

GMB Scotland Senior Organiser for Commercial Services Hazel Nolan, blasted Centrica’s executives for their role in creating their own company crisis and exploiting workers during the COVID-19 pandemic:

“Today is CEO pay day, Chris O’Shea will take home a pre-bonus wage of £775,000, and Centrica have recorded a £901million operating profit for 2019.

“While GMB members in British Gas acted as emergency workers during the COVID19 pandemic, Chris O’Shea & the Senior Millionaires Team of British Gas were busy plotting how to slash workers terms & conditions.

“In the grip of a global pandemic, Chris O’Shea’s anti-worker, ‘fire and rehire’ agenda would set a dangerous precedent for major UK employers, opening the floodgates for widespread attacks on workers’ jobs, pay and conditions. This is not how a country builds back better.

“GMB members are being told they’ll be sacked and then forced to accept new terms and conditions – across the board cuts in wages pensions and leave. Take it or leave it. Centrica are turning a once great British industrial institution into a cowboy contractor.

“We have no choice but to fight-back.”

Centrica says contingency measures are in place.

‘Don’t sack 12,000 Asda workers just before Christmas’

GMB, the union for Asda workers, has written to company bosses calling on them not to sack 12,000 workers just before Christmas.

In an open letter to senior vice president Hayley Tatum, GMB calls on the company to withdraw its threat to sack all workers who don’t sign the controversial Contract 6 on November 2.

Earlier this month Asda workers handed in a 23,000 strong petition opposing the contract to Asda HW during a mass protest in Leeds.

Hundreds of people from across the UK gathered in Leeds to voice their anger.

Asda workers have been told to sign the contracts – which will see them lose all their paid breaks and forced to work bank holidays – or be sacked on November 2 in the run up the Christmas.

Stand with Asda workers – sign our petition

Dr Who star Paul Mcgann, who also starred in cult hit Withnail and I and Aliens 3, and Rob Delaney, who appeared in Catastrophe and Deadpool 2, both lent their support to Asda workers.

Latest company accounts show directors trousered a whopping £12million last year – and profits rocketed more than £92 million – at the same time Asda slashed 5,000 jobs

Gary Carter, GMB National Officer, said: “If Asda is serious about not wanting to sack thousands its employees on the run up to Christmas, they need to withdraw the dismissal notices and sit down with GMB to resolve this dispute.

“Asda has served notice on up to 12,000 of its loyal employees – that can not be right.

“The onus is now on them to save people’s jobs with a better deal that their employees can sign up to.”