TALKS over a £500 million equal pay settlement for thousands of Glasgow council workers have collapsed, The Herald can reveal.
The development comes as union officials confirmed 8,000 women will take strike action for two days this month in a move that could cripple the city’s schools, nurseries, home care, cleaning and catering services.
GMB and Unison submitted a statutory notice for industrial action on Wednesday that confirmed a 48-hour strike will go ahead on October 23 and 24. The unions have accused Glasgow City Council of failing to engage in “meaningful negotiations” despite holding talks on 21 separate occasions since January.
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In the wake of the action being announced, council chief executive Annemarie O’Donnell wrote to the unions saying that “as a direct consequence of this act of bad faith the council will cease engagement with you through the negotiating group and will hold to this stance until such time as you formally withdraw your action”.
She added that the council would continue to negotiate with legal firm Action4Equality Scotland, which represents the bulk of the council’s 13,000 claimants - including some who are also members of the two unions - and Unite.
However, those organisations have refused to engage in further talks until the demands of all the claimants are met, with a response issued jointly by the GMB, Unison and Action4Equality telling Ms O’Donnell that “the claimant side is a single team and we will not be meeting with the council separately”.
GMB Scotland organiser Rhea Wolfson said: “This strike is not about demanding an unrealistic and immediate payment but it is a demand for the council to get serious about negotiations.
“We are hurtling towards a non-negotiated offer just before Christmas and the joint claimants will not stand for this.
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“The joint claimants are ready to restart serious negotiations as early as this Monday morning but the council are running away from a mess of their own making.”
A Glasgow City Council spokesman said: “We have written to the unions to make it clear we are keen to continue negotiations – and to hear something serious from them about what it will take to get them back around the table in good faith.
“At this point, they are just demanding things that they know are already being done.”
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