Tag: industrial action

Unions launch workplace ballot at Scottish Water over £3,000 pay loss

Trade unions GMB Scotland, Unite Scotland and UNISON Scotland have jointly informed Scottish Water over a consultative ballot for industrial action in a dispute over pay.

The Joint Trade Unions are demanding a return to proper negotiations amid a pay and bonuses row which could mean Scottish Water workers losing up to £3,000.

A number of Scottish Water workers have already lost between £500 – £1000 through the removal of the supplement payment which averages overtime hours worked over a year.

The payment covered workplace issues such as standby and emergency works. However, Scottish Water have now imposed a new workplace system which reduces the supplemental payment and workers will now not be paid for working any additional hours.

GMB Scotland Organiser Gary Cook said: “It’s shameful opportunism in the grip of a public health crisis and shows how poorly Scottish Water value their workers.

“This is the kind of behaviour you would expect from a rogue employer, not a statutory corporation, and our unions have been left with no choice but to ballot our members.

“Scottish Water bosses are accountable to all of us, yet this pay cut imposition completely ignores the fair work principles the Scottish Government claims to promote, so this is also a test for Ministers as well.”

James O’Connell, Unite industrial officer added: “Unite is launching a consultative ballot at Scottish Water due to management imposing decisions which significantly affect the pay of the workforce. The decisions which have been unilaterally made by management could mean some workers losing up to £3,000 a year.

“We can’t understand why Scottish Water has chosen to take this incendiary course of action without even talking to the trade unions.

“Unite is demanding that the money which has been deducted so far be reimbursed to those workers affected by Scottish Water and management enter into meaningful negotiations with us before this dispute escalates to inevitable industrial action.”

Emma Phillips, UNISON regional organiser for Scottish Water said: “Scottish waste-watersupervisors have been working throughout the pandemic keeping Scotland clean and safe. They travel the length and breadth of Scotland dealing with waste and sewage emergencies. They are vital workers.

“It is not acceptable that Scottish Water are unilaterally proposing to cut pay cut of this workforce by up to £4000 per year. Scottish Water must get round the table and listen to staff this. UNISON and the other unions have no choice but to start a consultative ballot for industrial action.”

British Gas set to hit 38 days of strikes as employer refuses to remove ‘Fire And Rehire’


Over a thousand British Gas workers across Scotland will walk out again tomorrow (Friday 19 March) for strike days thirty-five, thirty-six, thirty-seven and thirty-eight, as the fight continues against their CEO Chris O’Shea’s shameful ‘fire and rehire’ imposition.

Engineers will walk out from 00.01 hours on Friday 19 March until 21.59 hours on Monday 22 March, and again on Friday 26 March to Monday 29 March, taking the total number of strike days in the dispute to forty-two. 

Socially distanced picket lines will be in operation tomorrow morning at British Gas facilities in Edinburgh and Uddingston.

The latest wave of strikes was confirmed after workers across the UK voted by a resounding majority of four-to-one against proposals tabled through ACAS over the future of their terms and conditions, with Centrica refusing to lift the ‘fire and rehire’ imposition.

British Gas are set to issue dismissal notices on Monday 29 March to staff who refuse to accept the ‘fire and rehire’ imposition. 

After thirty-four days of previous strike action, GMB understands that more than 250,000 homes across the UK are in a backlog for repairs and 350,000 planned annual service visits have been axed.

GMB Scotland Senior Organiser Hazel Nolan said: “British Gas is set to sack key workers if they do not accept Chris O’Shea’s ‘fire and rehire’ imposition – it’s a shameful way for any employer to behave let alone a great British industrial institution.

“Left unchallenged it also sets a dangerous precedent, where even the biggest employers can exploit a public health crisis to attack workers’ rights, and their terms and conditions of employment. That’s not modernisation, it’s Dickensian.

“But the message from our determined and dignified members is loud and clear: Stop the fire and rehire in British Gas, and let’s return to proper negotiations over the future of this business and its workers.”

Home Carers to ballot for action over “No Confidence” in COVID testing roll-out

Home carers in Glasgow City Council’s Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP) will launch a ballot for industrial action next week, warning they have “no confidence” over plans for workplace testing of COVID-19 and amid ongoing uncertainty surrounding the vaccination programme.

Over 1,700 GMB Scotland members will take part in a three-week ballot, running from Tuesday 19 January to Monday 8 February, meaning service delivery in the HSCP could be affected by action as early as the week beginning Monday 22 February.

It follows a massive 93 per cent support for action among GMB members in a consultative ballot last month, a direct response to the Scottish Government’s Winter Preparedness Plan which put home carers to the back of the queue in the roll-out of workplace testing delivery.

GMB Scotland Organiser David Hume said: “There is no confidence whatsoever among our members in their employer or the government to sufficiently protect their health and safety at work. And why should there be?

“They were failed on PPE at the outset of this pandemic, they have been left waiting ten months for workplace testing, and some are already encountering problems getting their first vaccine.

“The HSCP should have been fighting tooth and nail for every resource to protect the safety of their employees and their service users. Instead they have been sitting on zoom calls for nearly a year waiting on guidance from the Scottish Government, only for Ministers to leave councils carrying the can for testing delivery.

“The interests of these key workers have been consistently forgotten and they are being treated negligently by their employer, and this government.”

GMB Members Fight To “Make Work Better” at Burton’s Biscuits

Strike Action Starts Tomorrow Over ‘Derisory’ Pay Offer  

Workers at Edinburgh biscuit manufacturer Burton’s will start the first of three 24-hour strike actions tomorrow morning (Wednesday 9 September) over the company’s refusal to improve a “derisory” pay offer.  

Over 200 GMB members will take part in the action after the company failed to cooperate with union attempts to enter conciliation and negotiate improvements to the existing 1.6 per cent offer for 2020-21.  

A smaller socially distanced picket line will be enforced from 6am tomorrow until 05.59 hours on Thursday morning, complying with the UK industrial action laws and Scottish Government public health guidelines on COVID-19.  

An indefinite “work to rule”, including an overtime ban, started this afternoon at 14.00 hours.   

GMB Scotland Organiser Benny Rankin said: “This dispute strikes at the heart of the debate around fair work and decent pay in the Scottish economy. 

“The fact management claim to be shocked at our union’s claim for a rise that would put just 65 pence an hour more on the wages of the lowest paid shows you how out of touch they are.  

“Burton’s somehow think it is credible to offer just 14 pence an hour more to their lowest paid:that’s derisory given many of their workers make the living wage and just over or under £10 an hour. 

“After everything they have done for the business, and particularly against the backdrop of the COVID pandemic, our members are ready to fight to make their work better.” 

Strikes to start as Burton’s “takes the biscuit again” with pay offer

Production of some of Britain’s favourite biscuits will be halted over the next month as workers at Burton’s Biscuits Co in Edinburgh launch strike action over a “derisory” pay offer.

GMB members at the Sighthill manufacturing plant, voted by an overwhelming majority of 91 per cent for industrial action after management refused to increase a 1.6 per cent offer for the next year.

An indefinite work to rule and overtime ban will start on Tuesday 8 September from 14.00 hours before a series of twenty-four hour strikes throughout September. Action will take place on the following dates:

  • 06.00 hours on Wednesday 9 September to 05.59 hours on Thursday 10 September.
  • 06.00 hours on Wednesday 16 September to 05.59 hours on Thursday 17 September.
  • 06.00 hours on Wednesday 23 September to 05.59 hours on Thursday 24 September.

The biscuit manufacturer, which produces staple household brands like Jammie Dodgers and Wagon Wheels, is owned by the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan which hold net assets worth a staggering $204.7 billion.

GMB Scotland Organiser Benny Rankin said: “Burton’s stubborn stance on this year’s pay offer is an insult to staff that have worked throughout the lockdown at management’s insistence.

“In March staff were told they were part of the key worker response and despite serious health and safety concerns over working practices, our members did what needed to be done for this business.

“Burton’s derisory pay offer hold’s a mirror up to this management – they clearly do not value the contribution of their staff and have no interest in recognising and rewarding them properly.

“And after previous concerns over management’s ability to adhere to the COVID guidelines on workplace safety, Burton’s are taking the biscuit again over their workers’ pay and conditions.

“Their refusal to meaningfully engage with a workforce that deserve so much better means we have been left with little choice but to strike for a decent pay offer.”

Scottish prison custody officers launch strike ballot

An industrial action ballot of Prisoner Custody Officers (PCOs) in GeoAmey gets underway today (Monday 13 January) over a pay imposition which will result in staff receiving less than £10 an hour for the next two years.  Continue reading Scottish prison custody officers launch strike ballot

Christmas food shortage threat at Morrisons

Strike ballot gets underway at distribution firm 

Morrisons supermarkets across Scotland could be hit by food shortages in the run up to Christmas as an industrial action ballot gets underway today in its distribution partner XPO Logistic. Continue reading Christmas food shortage threat at Morrisons

On the buses: no laughing matter as Festival disruption looms

Unite Scotland is to hold a strike ballot at Lothian Buses. If the ballot is successful, action is likely to take place in August during the Edinburgh Fal Festival – traditionally the capital’s busiest month. In a previous ballot in April, 94% of Unite members supported industrial action. The latest ballot opens on Thursday. Continue reading On the buses: no laughing matter as Festival disruption looms

Letters: look beyond the label

Dear Editor

Anyone who proposes a solution to a work/life problem from a trade unionist or socialist point of view is rapidly given the label of ‘trouble-maker’ or ‘agitator’. This tactic is far easier to use than advancing an opinion on the issue.

Industries and businesses want to make as much profit as possible, employees want decent wages and conditions of employment and it is inevitable that a dispute will arise at some point over these issues.

Sensible employees have a trade union organisation to speak for them while the employers normally belong to an organisation that supports them. Sometimes no agreement is reached, and the only option left for the employee is the withdrawal of labour which, as a free person and not a slave, he/she is fully entitled to do.

This is where the tactics of giving labels is stepped up by some media to isolate the strikers in the eyes of the general public. This negative approach is used not only in disputes but across a wide range of issues that affect all our lives.

Despite this, however, much progress has and can be made if one looks beyond this divisive tactic and realise that next time, it could be you.

A. Delahoy, Silverknowes Gardens