GMB strike vote threatens disruption for 60,000 drivers a day
Workers controlling one of Scotland’s busiest roads have backed strikes threatening traffic chaos for more than 60,000 drivers a day.
GMB Scotland announced control room staff managing the Clyde Tunnel, in Glasgow, have backed industrial action after a council pay offer was overwhelmingly rejected.
The union will inform Glasgow City Council of the ballot result today while warning strike action risks shutting the tunnel linking the north and south of the city.
Workers at Whiteinch, on the north bank of the river, monitor a battery of cameras 24 hours a day, control ventilation, and respond to breakdowns and other emergencies.
Their work is vital to the safe operation of the tunnel, bored beneath the river bed before opening in 1963. Used by 65,000 cars, vans and lorries a day, it underpins the economy of Scotland’s biggest city.
Keir Greenaway, GMB Scotland senior organiser in public services, said the vote in favour of strike action at the tunnel was no surprise after staff across Scotland rejected a 3% pay offer from Cosla, representing local authorities.
Most of the ten-strong tunnel team are GMB Scotland members and the union confirmed 100% of those voting in the formal ballot backed strike action.
Greenaway said the tunnel workers were the first to vote as part of a strategic campaign of industrial action to secure an improved offer for council staff and urged the Scottish Government to engage with Cosla and unions to resolve the dispute.
He said: “Council workers have again been forced to fight for fair pay while watching others in the public sector, NHS Scotland, for example, being made acceptable offers.
“The everyday lives of millions of Scots rest on the shoulders of local authority staff and they will not be treated as the poor relations in our public services.”
“The team at the Clyde Tunnel keep Scotland’s biggest city moving, only one example of the essential services delivered by our members.”
“Without their expertise and experience, one of the country’s most important roads could close with untold disruption.”
Greenaway urged the Scottish Government to release the resources needed for Cosla to improve the pay offer and settle the dispute.
He said: “The current offer adds pennies to the hourly rate paid to the lowest-paid staff, and it is beyond time for ministers to seriously engage with Cosla and the unions to deliver fair pay.”
The union is now planning strategic action, starting with the Clyde Tunnel, in support of its pay claim for £1 an hour increase or 6.5%.
GMB Scotland, one of the biggest unions in the public sector, will now notify the Glasgow council of the result of the formal vote on strike action at the Tunnel, linking Whiteinch and Govan on the south bank of the Clyde, before giving two weeks’ notice of strikes.
It comes after a consultative ballot of GMB Scotland members in councils revealed 96% of those voting backed walkouts if Cosla, representing the local authorities, did not improve the 3% offer.
