Bin strikes in Scotland announced by second union as communities face 'stinking' summer

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A second trade union has confirmed damaging bin strikes will start within days after a pay offer was rejected.Council workers will leave bins unemptied on August 14 for eight days - including in Edinburgh at the height of the captial's festival season.Strikes have been scheduled after staff in three unions - Unison, GMB and Unite - rejected a 3.2 per cent pay offer from councils.Town hall chiefs say they cannot improve the offer unless the SNP Government brings more money to the table.Talks held this week between the Government, councils and unions failed to reach an agreement but sources said the discussions were constructive.Unison had already named August 14 as the start date for strikes and the GMB have followed suit.Keir Greenaway, GMB Scotland senior organiser, said: “We had constructive talks with the Scottish Government and Cosla yesterday but our members are less interested in constructive talks than fair pay.“The process has gone on too long with too little progress.

There is no more time to waste talking about old offers with new wrapping. Enough is enough.“Industrial action will start in two weeks unless ministers and local authorities urgently identify the money needed to make a fair and acceptable offer.“These strikes will be disruptive to all the Scots who rely on our members’ work but would not be necessary if councils had shown a greater urgency and sense of realism.”GMB members in waste and recycling will strike in Aberdeenshire, Aberdeen City, East Ayrshire, Edinburgh, East Dunbartonshire and Falkirk.Workers in Fife, Glasgow, Highland, Inverclyde, Midlothian, North Lanarkshire, Orkney Islands, Perth & Kinross, Renfrewshire, South Lanarkshire, Stirling and West Lothian will also down tools.Bin strikes