Striking Glasgow cleansing staff are understood to be considering a new offer which could bring the bin strike to an end.
The eight day stoppage is due to end tomorrow and as cleansing staff gathered for a rally in George Square on Monday there was hope that the dispute could be brought to an end.
Chris Mitchell, GMB Glasgow convenor, said there was 14 new agreements on the table and that they were in a far better position than they were in last week. He said it was still up to members to agree.
It came after the GMB said there had been constructive talks with Glasgow City Council Leader Susan Aitken at the end of last week.
And today Jeremy Corbyn stood shoulder to shoulder with striking cleansing workers in Glasgow today fighting for better pay.
Read more: Jeremy Corbyn joins Glasgow picket line as bin strike enters second week
The former Labour leader joined workers who have been on strike for eight days as the GMB union members continue their action into a second week.
In a post on social media MP Nadia Whittome said she was proud to join the picket line this morning with Jeremy Corbyn and Glasgow MSP Paul Sweeney.
Speaking previously GMB Scotland Senior Organiser Keir Greenaway said: “Susan Aitken has the power to end this strike, and there is a big opportunity to make work better for Glasgow’s lowest paid workers."
Talks with the council leader continued over the weekend.
The union described the action as strong strengthened further by global support, but members’ anger has also been inflamed by the council’s use of contracted labour.
Mr Greenaway said: “Workers strike when they are undervalued, disrespected and ignored - no one should be surprised this has happened."
He said the dispute could have grown over the winter months.
The GMB was calling for a £2,000 pay rise and had previously turned down an offer of an £850-a-year increase for staff earning up to £25,000.
The proposal from umbrella body, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, which was suggested on Friday was for a one-year, 5.89 per cent increase for the lowest paid council staff. This comes as part of a £1,062 rise for all staff earning below £25,000.
Glasgow GMB was seeking further assurances.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel