Glasgow’s bin collectors have gone on strike just as world leaders gather in the Scottish city for a crucial summit on the climate crisis.
Street cleaners walked out at one minute past midnight after last ditch talks to end a row between a union and the city council collapsed.
The planned strike action appeared to have been called off on Friday after a new pay offer from Glasgow City Council umbrella body Cosla.
GMB union had said it would suspend the strike for two weeks to consult with members.
However, following talks on Sunday, the union announced that strike action would go ahead on the second day of the Cop26 summit – and last for the whole first week.
The move means rubbish could pile up in the city, threatening to make for an unsightly irony as leaders of the world attempt to tackle the environmental emergency during the two week conference.
There has already been some hiccups with COP, after a fallen tree caused travel chaos on the roads – forcing many environmental delegates to take domestic flights to get to the conference.
That followed the Chancellor Rishi Sunak being slammed for cutting the cost of domestic flights in the build up to the summit, with the government also facing criticism over plans to give the controversial cambo oil field the go ahead.
More than 100 world leaders are expected to arrive in Glasgow on Monday with the first day of the two-day world leaders’ summit taking place at the conference, which is seen as one of the last chances to avert catastrophic climate change.
GMB Scotland secretary Louise Gilmour said: ‘We met the council in good faith, offering a clear set of proposals to reset industrial relations and avoid strikes. The council rejected these proposals.’
She added: ‘Regrettably, the council refused this massive opportunity to move forward, and strike action across the cleansing service will now begin, during which time our members will be balloted on the Cosla pay offer.’
The GMB was calling for a £2,000 pay rise and previously turned down an offer of an £850-a-year increase for staff earning up to £25,000.
The Cosla proposal tabled on Friday is for a one-year, 5.89% increase for the lowest paid council staff, as part of a £1,062 rise for all staff earning below £25,000.
The Scottish Government gave £30 million to support the offer.
A Glasgow City Council spokesman for said on Sunday evening: ‘The agreement struck at national level gave two weeks to consider the pay offer and so there is no reason for this strike to go ahead at this time.
‘It is very disappointing the GMB has opted for this course of action, which now seems to be about allocating time for meetings rather than a pay agreement.
‘We will meet with the GMB at any time to try and resolve what now appears to be a local dispute.’
For more stories like this, check our news page.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
MORE : Good COP or Bad COP? Here are the outcomes we are likely to see at COP26
Share this with