When The Rubbish Piles Up Blame ‘Coward’ Councillors

Ahead Of Fresh Strikes, GMB Tells East Dunbartonshire Residents: “When The Rubbish Piles Up Blame ‘Coward’ Councillors”

GMB Scotland has told East Dunbartonshire residents that ‘coward’ councillors will be to blame for mounting household waste as bins and recycling staff start four days of strike action tomorrow (Thursday 12 July) over cuts to their terms and conditions.

The decision by Liberal Democrat and Conservative councillors to scrap overtime allowance and impose a three day reduction to annual leave entitlement has sparked outrage among staff, who stand to lose hundreds of pounds of earnings as a result.

Against the backdrop of nearly a decade of cuts to local government pay and conditions, councillors also moved to slash the redundancy benefit of their staff to the lowest of any Scottish local authority.

Strike action will run from 00.01 hours Thursday 12 July until 23.59 hours Sunday 15 July. Picket lines will be in place at the Hilton Waste Depot and Mavis Valley Recycling Centre in Bishopbriggs.

GMB Scotland Organiser Hazel Nolan said: “The Tories and Lib Dems have ridden roughshod over the recognised trade union consultation process and played gutter politics for the last six months, all in an effort to pick the pockets of staff.

I doubt any of these councillors have a clue about what it’s like working on the bottom rungs of local government pay, nor will they understand the importance of these terms and conditions to our members and their families.

Compounding anger among staff is the fact that some councillors and officials have now bolted for sunnier climes on their holidays while our members begin a second wave of industrial action.

Our members have shown tremendous dignity throughout this dispute to defend their terms and conditions of employment, while those responsible for the cuts have behaved like cowards.

So when the rubbish starts piling up across East Dunbartonshire, the public should direct their anger squarely on their elected representatives and highly paid council officials who continue to duck their responsibilities.”

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Contact: GMB Scotland Organiser Hazel Nolan on 07921 885786 or Peter Welsh, GMB Scotland Communications, on 07976 447077.