Garbage men go on strike during the Edinburgh Festival
Due to a wage dispute, workers in the waste and recycling industry in Edinburgh have voted to strike during the Fringe Festival.
The GMB and Unite unions said Cosla’s current pay offer to local authority workers fell significantly short of what they were entitled to.
The local government association Cosla defended its wage offer and called on the unions to reconsider their decision to take industrial action.
Two years ago, a 12-day garbage strike took place during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, resulting in a huge backlog of waste on the streets of the capital.
Brian Robertson, secretary of the Unite union in Edinburgh, said: “This is about local government salaries across Scotland.”
“These brave workers will go on strike and face pay cuts unless the Scottish Government comes to the negotiating table and we can negotiate with them and with Cosla to get a fair pay rise for all local government workers in Scotland.”
Cosla has submitted an offer that runs from April 1 to September 30 next year.
This would result in an increase of 2.2% from 1 April and a further increase of 2% from 1 October.
But Mr Robertson said it was “not a strong offer” and the decision to strike during the festival season was “absolutely necessary”.
He added: “We don’t want to do that. We don’t want to mess up the festival – we messed it up two years ago.”
“We want the Scottish Government to come to the negotiating table before we have to.
“The vast majority of local authority employees earn far less than the average wage in this city – many of them work for less than £20,000 a year.”
Keir Greenaway, senior organiser for public services at GMB Scotland, said: “If Cosla cannot do better, it is time to bring the Scottish Government to the negotiating table to fund an improved offer.”
“If not, it is likely that the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2022 will experience the same disruptions this year.
“Hundreds of millions of dollars flow into the city during the Fringe Festival, but politicians say they cannot raise enough money to recognise the achievements of frontline service workers.”
The GMB said its members had secured a strike mandate at waste management plants in 13 Scottish local authorities, including Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Fife, North Lanarkshire, South Lanarkshire, Aberdeenshire, East Ayrshire, East Dunbartonshire, Inverclyde, Midlothian, the Orkney Islands, Perth and Kinross and Stirling.
A Cosla spokeswoman said: “Cosla has made a strong offer at the edge of affordability for communities. In the context of falling inflation and a flat cash budget agreement from the Scottish Government, it remains important to properly remunerate our valued workers.
“We call on our unions to reconsider their decision to reject the offer.
“We are disappointed that our unions are considering industrial action and concerned that this appears to be targeting waste disposal, again posing potential health risks to the public.”
She said the Scottish Government respects the union’s role in seeking the best pay agreement and remains committed to achieving the best for its workforce.
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