Council workers and civil servants strike in Scotland

Tens of thousands of striking council workers disrupted public services across Scotland today while Scottish civil servants also struck for their own pay dispute.

Submitted by Ed on August 20, 2008

Schools were closed, rubbish went uncollected, ferry services were disrupted, and services like libraries were closed. Union leaders said an estimated 150,000 workers took part in the one-day strike over pay. The pay row is over an offer of 2.5% for each of the next three years, an offer made "derisory" by the rising cost of living.

A separate dispute saw Scottish Government civil servants in the PCS union stage a one-day stoppage over what they claim is an imposed 2% pay rise. The PCS, which has 4,000 members in the Scottish Government, claimed a widespread response to the strike call but the government said 1,401 staff were on strike and disruption was minimal.

The impact of the local authority strike varied across the country. Hundreds of schools were closed while some of those which remained in operation, were only open to some age groups. Even when schools remained open, in many cases there were no school meals.

Edinburgh had 23 primary schools and three secondaries closed to all pupils, while other schools in the capital were closed to some age groups. No trade waste was collected in the city centre - but the city's parking attendants remained on duty.

Picket lines were set up at some Glasgow schools and primaries were shut but all the city's secondary schools remained open. All of the city's municipal car parks were open and there was a "limited" number of parking wardens.

In Musselburgh, near Edinburgh, Unison said pickets agreed to an exemption request for staff to go back to work to protect an old people's residential home from flooding.

In Dundee, all nursery, primary and secondary schools were closed except for one primary and a special school, and no bin collections or street cleaning took place.

Fife Council reported 170 school closures, including council-run nurseries, and in the Western Isles the stoppage hit council-run bus services, bin collections, and libraries.

In the Highland Council area there was no bin collection, no burials or cremations, some ferries services were cancelled, and swimming pools and libraries were shut.

Comments

Django

15 years 7 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Django on August 24, 2008

http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/801245?UserKey=0

Bosses re-open negotiations.