Edinburgh bin and waste workers will go on strike this Thursday. It will be the first weapon in a first wave of strike action to attack waste services in 15 municipalities across Scotland over the next few weeks.
This behavior will inevitably lead to uncollected trash bins, piles of trash, and unclean streets. It's a farce for this to happen during the Edinburgh International and Fringe festivals, trying to emerge from the long cold shadow of Covid.
However, this farce was not the work of hard-working, low-paid professionals who continued to serve during the pandemic.
More than half of her 250,000 civil servants in Scotland are reported to earn less than her £25,000 a year for a 37-hour workweek. And who are these workers? They are our sweepers, cemetery workers, waste workers, janitors, and more.
It is the workers who have kept our children and grandchildren safe and educated. We will also jointly announce a strike that will affect the school in the near future.
No, the responsibility for this situation rests with COSLA, a local government agency, and the Scottish Government. It's important to note that Unite, along with the union, rejected an offer of a 2% salary in March.
So why did it take COSLA five months to “up” its offer to 3.5%? Even the last few proposals were quickly rejected at a time when the crisis was really starting to take its toll.
Yes. Even council leaders, including those in Edinburgh and Glasgow, agree that the proposal falls short. So why create it when you know it will be rejected?
John Swinney and the Scottish Government can point to the recent announcement of his £140m supplement to local authorities, but the big picture is that local governments has been starved for money for more than a decade.
The local government's 2013-14 to his 2019-20 money change has substantially decreased at more than twice his rate in the Scottish government's revenue budget. That's a fact.
Local governments have been the biggest losers in the latest Scottish government appropriation review that has frozen funding for the rest of Parliament. It is also in the Scottish government.
Now we have the pathetic spectacle of COSLA and the Scottish government doing the hokey cokey dance. The fact is that both are equally responsible and it is a mess of their own doing.
Our members are disgusted with this political move. Because all they want is an offer presented to the table that is fair and helps them address the cost of living crisis plaguing families across Scotland.
Unite does not apologize for standing up for its members. Obtained from politicians.
I hope that the people of Scotland will agree that everyone deserves a fair raise and that readers of the record will support this strike action.
