Talks to resume in Glasgow City Council equal pay dispute Published duration 24 October 2018

Talks will resume on Thursday morning to try to resolve the long-running dispute on equal pay at Glasgow City Council.

Local services in the city have faced serious disruption during two days of strike action by up to 8,000 staff.

Union leaders have said they were frustrated by the lack of progress in the talks.

Glasgow City Council said the battle on equal pay had already been won and the strike was unnecessary.

Bin collections have been hit across Glasgow after about 600 cleansing staff walked out in support of striking care workers.

Unofficial action

Staff have stayed away from the city's four refuse and recycling centres on the second day of action.

Glasgow City Council said the unplanned strikes were illegal and it has written to unions with its concerns.

Primary schools and nurseries remained closed on the second day of the 48-hour strike.

Home care services also faced disruption due to the walkout by members of the GMB and Unison.

Unofficial action by cleansing staff began on Tuesday and extended into a second day.

A number of parking attendants and museum staff also took part in unofficial action.

GMB Scotland organiser Rhea Wolfson, said: "Many members, including parking attendants and refuse and cleansing workers, as a matter of individual conscience, are choosing to support the striking women of Glasgow by refusing to cross picket lines and demonstrations."

The council said tens of thousands of homes would see delays to scheduled bin collections as a result.

The refuse and recycling centres affected are at Dawsholm, Shieldhall, Polmadie and Queenslie.

image copyright Getty Images image caption Hundreds of strikers marched to Glasgow City Chambers

Social media posts showed GMB pickets outside the centres on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, police attended the Shieldhall centre following complaints by the council that vehicles were hit with placards.

Police Scotland attended and gave advice to workers on the pickets but no further action was taken.

The council, now led by the SNP, announced in January it would negotiate a settlement over the equal pay issue, which had been the subject of years of tribunal and court hearings.

But on Tuesday thousands of council staff walked out, in what was claimed to be the biggest ever UK strike over equal pay.

Hundreds of strikers joined a march and rally in George Square, claiming that 10 months of negotiation had stalled.

Legal victory

The dispute has its roots in a flawed job evaluation scheme drawn up by the council, then under Labour control, in 2006.

Last year the Court of Session ruled it was unfair to workers in roles such as cleaning or catering, which are predominantly filled by women.

Glasgow City Council has said it had a 30-strong team working full-time on details of a settlement, which it hopes to agree in the coming months.

In an updated statement on Wednesday afternoon, a council spokeswoman said: "This strike affects the most frail and vulnerable people in the city who require help with personal care, taking medication and meal preparations.

"Every effort is being made to reach as many of the highest priority people as possible with the limited resources available.

"Staff and managers have been diverted from other duties and are going above and beyond in an effort to safeguard the elderly and disabled in partnership with other agencies."

She added: "Illegal strike action by refuse collection staff is affecting bin collections across the city.

"Bins will be emptied on the next scheduled date of collection.

"We understand this is frustrating for residents, but unfortunately, we had no notice of this unscheduled and unofficial strike action.