Tag: rail strike

Strike action begins in Edinburgh

Unite members in Waste and Cleansing in Edinburgh will begin industrial action today over the ‘insulting’ pay offer for local government workers.

Last Friday, COSLA increased the offer from 2% to 3.5%. All three unions of the Scottish Joint Council -Unite, Unison and GMB – immediately rejected the offer.

The NHS have been offered—and look set to reject—5%, so once again local government is treated as the poor relation of the public sector. Local government workers in England have been offered a rise of £1,925.

Edinburgh is the first council to take action, with others following on the 24th.

Pickets and support

The strike takes place from 5am today to 5am on Tuesday 30 August with daily pickets at seven waste depots across the city.

See picket locations below:

Waste and Cleansing workers will strike from 5am on 18 August to 4:59am on 30 August in Edinburgh Council.

DAILY PICKETS at:

  • Seafield Depot on Fillyside Road from 5:30 to 8:30am and 7pm to 8pm.
  • Bankhead Depot on Bankhead Avenue from 5:30 to 8:30am
  • Cowan’s Close Depot at 7 Cowan’s Close from 5:30 to 8:30am
  • Craigmillar Depot on Old Dalkeith Road from 5:30 to 8:30am
  • Russell Road Depot at 38 Russell Road from 5:30 to 8:30am
  • Burgess Road Depot at 30 Burgess Road in South Queensferry from 5:30 to 8:30am
  • Murrayburn Depot at 33 Murrayburn Road from 6:30 to 8:30am.

You can support the strike by donating to the strike fund.

TODAY: Demo at the City Chambers and RMT rally

UNITE will be demonstrating at the City Chambers on Thursday 18 August at 9am as part of the industrial action.

Following this, the trade union will join the RMT rally on Waverley Bridge at 10am to foster solidarity among workers and hear from Mick Lynch and Mark Thomas.

THE CITY COUNCIL HAS ISSUED THE FOLLOWING ADVICE:

What to do with your waste and recycling

Communal services

Collections are suspended for all communal waste and recycling bins. Please do not add to full bins. Check nearby bins instead, and when these are all full, store your waste at home, or in your back green or garden if possible. Do not leave bags next to bins unless this is unavoidable, as it can become a hazard.

Keep separating your waste and rinse pots, tubs and trays, and rinse and squash your plastic bottles and aluminium cans, so that these don’t smell while you store them. Flatten cardboard too.

Keep food waste in a sealed container, as cool as possible.

Glass bank services will continue as these are managed by an external contactor.

Kerbside services

Non recyclable waste collections (grey bins)

Suspended. Please do not put your grey bin out. Please keep your waste safe, secure and away from pavements and roads. Consider using a garage, garden or driveway and ensure strong bin bags are properly secured.

Mixed recycling collections (green bins)

Suspended. Please do not put your green bin out. Please keep your recycling clean and flattened, and stored safely. 

Food waste collections

Suspended. Please do not put your food bin out. Please ensure your kerbside food waste bin is closed and secured to prevent animal access.

Glass collections (blue box)

Suspended. Please do not put your blue box out. Please rinse bottles and jars and store these at home. Please do not use on street or local bring site recycling points to dispose of your glass. We do not have the staff resources to empty these or clean up fly-tipped material.

Garden waste collections (brown bins)

Suspended. Please do not put your brown bin out.  We understand the disappointment this will cause and at the moment, we cannot advise when the service will be running normally again.

We are working on how best to replace the collections affected, and will provide further information on this later.

Report a missed bin

Since normal scheduled collections are suspended, we cannot take reports of missed bins. Please do not present your bin for collection until advised to do so.

Collections of bulky waste items

Suspended. Existing bookings will be honoured where staffing allows. If you have booked a special uplift and we can’t collect it, we will let you know.

Household waste recycling centres

Closed. It will not be possible to book an appointment, and all existing bookings will be contacted by email to cancel.

Request and replacing bins and boxes

Repair and replacement of bins and boxes are suspended. Uplifts of any unwanted waste containers is also suspended.

Litter/ dogs bins and street cleansing

Please also note there will be no street cleansing activities including street sweeping and litter bin emptying. Please either use a bin that’s not full or take it home and double bag it to reduce smells.

Waste reporting and enquires

We have removed all online reporting for waste and cleansing as we are unable to carry out these services during the industrial action. 

If you need to report an emergency issue where waste is causing injury or hazard, please phone and listen to the new options carefully. Phone 0131 608 1100, from Monday -Thursday 1000-1600 and Friday 1000-1500.  After these hours, phone 0131 200 2000.

You can also email waste@edinburgh.gov.uk with the specific location and details of the issue.

Please be mindful that staff working will be very busy and are all doing their best to deal with a lot of issues at this time.

Scottish ministers discuss rail strike contingency plans

UK Government urged to resolve pay dispute

A meeting of the Scottish Government Resilience Room (SGoRR) has been told of the impact of UK-wide rail strikes on Scotland.

Deputy First Minister John Swinney was joined by Ministers including Transport Secretary Michael Matheson and Transport Minister Jenny Gilruth to hear of the latest situation.

The Transport Minister yesterday wrote to the UK Government calling for a swift resolution to the dispute.

Tuesday marked the first of three days of strike action this week, with more planned for Thursday and Saturday with the possibility of further action over the summer. Due to shift patterns the entire week is being disrupted, rather than just the three selected dates.

SGoRR has been up and running since this morning and will be in operation until Sunday evening to monitor impacts and oversee and co-ordinate the response from Ministers.

The meeting also heard about extra preparedness around major events such as the Royal Highland Show, freight mitigation plans from major retailers to keep supermarkets stocked as much as possible, and wider resilience plans.

Speaking after chairing the meeting, Mr Swinney said: “With a busy summer upon us, there needs to be more urgency from UK Ministers and the Department for Transport to get this situation fixed – and fast.  The lack of action being taken by the UK Government is a dereliction of duty.

“We have had our own issues in Scotland but the difference between our approach and that of the UK Government could not be more stark. We have sought dialogue, compromise and agreement, whereas the UK Government has deliberately inflamed the situation causing misery for the travelling public.

“This afternoon’s meeting was an opportunity to hear from agencies and responders about the plans that are in place, and I am confident that the mitigations we can take are being taken, but we heard of the serious impact it is having on many areas and sectors of Scotland such as tourism, freight and major events.

“I am grateful to the travelling public for their considerable patience and for checking ahead, seeking alternatives, and working flexibly, where possible. Our resilience arrangements will remain in place for the rest of the week, however I am in no doubt that this situation can and should be addressed by the UK Government.

“The public have suffered enough and our major events organisers need to be able to look and plan ahead with certainty.”