Edinburgh bin workers begin strikes in pay dispute

People living in Edinburgh have been warned to expect "significant disruption" as the city's waste workers have launched a 12-day strike.

Unions have rejected a pay offer equivalent to a 3.5% increase and the Edinburgh strike is the first of a series planned across Scotland.

The industrial action comes in the final weeks of the Edinburgh festivals.

Workers picketing outside Edinburgh City Chambers were joined by council leader Cammy Day.

The Labour councillor said more money was needed from the Scottish government to allow a better offer to be made to the striking workers.

Nicola Sturgeon has said council leaders should make a 5% pay offer to staff to avert further strikes.

The first minister said it was "really disappointing" that £140m of extra Scottish government funding had not resolved the pay row.

Hundreds of GMB and Unite union members in Edinburgh's waste and recycling service will be on strike until 30 August - the day after the end of the city's International and Fringe festivals.

They will be joined by further strike action from workers in waste and recycling services across Scottish local government on 26 and 29 August, as well as between 7 and 10 September.

GMB Scotland organiser Kirsten Muat has warned of huge disruption to life in Scotland's capital city.

She said: "Waste will pile up for the remainder of the Festival and when people ask why we will tell them, GMB members are not prepared to accept working poverty in our local services as an inevitability even if our political leaders are.

"The 3.5% tabled last week - a miserly lift on the previously rejected 2% - is a pathetic response while our members struggle against double-digit inflation and energy bills rising to over £4,000 this winter.

"If political leaders want to avoid the prospect of more strikes across more councils in the weeks to come, then they must urgently make a significantly improved pay offer."

The Edinburgh strike will be followed by a second wave of action by waste workers across Scotland. It is a coordinated effort by Unite, Unison and the GMB unions to get an improved council pay deal.

Unite - 24 to 31 August Aberdeen, Angus, Clackmannanshire, Dundee, East Ayrshire, East Lothian, East Renfrewshire, Edinburgh, Falkirk, Glasgow, Highland, Inverclyde, South Ayrshire, South Lanarkshire and West Lothian.

Unison - August 26 to 29 and September 7 to 10 Aberdeenshire, Clackmannanshire, East Renfrewshire, Glasgow, Inverclyde, North Lanarkshire, Stirling and South Lanarkshire

GMB - August 26 to 29 and September 7 to 10 Aberdeen, Angus, Dundee, East Ayrshire, East Lothian, Falkirk, Glasgow, Inverclyde, Highland, Midlothian, Orkney, South Ayrshire, South Lanarkshire, West Lothian, Perth and Kinross, and North Lanarkshire.

Eddie Cassidy, from Unite Scotland, told BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland that councils were an "an easy target" for Scottish government cuts.

"They have reduced funding for local government well in excess of what they should have over the past 10 years," he said.

"My members have been scrimping and scraping over the past ten years, and the time has come to say enough is enough.

"They cant afford to buy their messages, they can't afford to send their kids to school, they cannot afford their bus fares. It's an absolute disgrace in a country like ours."

Edinburgh City Council said it was anticipating all bin collections and street cleaning in the city would be affected in the coming weeks.

The city's three recycling centres will be closed and bulky uplift and fly-tipping services will also be paused as a result of the action.

As agreed with the trade unions, some waste collections will take place in care homes, special schools and blocks of flats with bin chutes.

Council leader Cammy Day said: "I firmly believe that all council colleagues deserve to be paid fairly for the work they do and have every right to take this action and have their voices heard.

"As the lowest funded council in Scotland, it's time for the Scottish government to properly fund our capital city and its services."

Last week Cosla resources spokeswoman Katie Hagmann said: "Leaders have reaffirmed their aspiration to make an offer greater than the initial 2% but note the risk that public services will not recover, jobs will be affected and communities will see services reduced."

The Scottish government said it expected local government to match its £140m contribution to help them give staff a bigger pay rise.

Meanwhile, Scotland will also be hit by disruption on the railways on Thursday, with strike action by the RMT union across the UK impacting on the signalling provisions north of the border.

As a result only a few train services will be available, mostly in the central belt.