Glasgow venues face 24-hour strike

24-hour strike at Culture and Sport Glasgow goes ahead from 00.05 on 29 August 2008

Talks between BECTU and management at Culture and Sport Glasgow have continued today in a effort to avoid a 24-hour strike set for tomorrow. Those talks have failed and the strike will start at 00.05 hours on 29 August 2008 and will run until 23.55 hours.

The strike will affect a whole range of activity including dances and wedding parties and a range of cultural events and some sports facilities. This planned stoppage is supported by former council staff now employed by the private company, Culture and Sport Glasgow.

Tomorrow’s strike will be followed by a range of industrial action which will make it impossible for the company to offer a normal service in the coming weeks.

The Tramway and Mitchell Theatres, and around 70 former council community facilities, such as Langside and Partick Burgh Halls, and some sports facilities will all be affected by the action.

The dispute centres on management’s refusal to negotiate on the union’s claim for improvements to the pay and grading of community facility officers (area supervisors) and culture and leisure attendants (house managers who chiefly look after the company’s smaller venues.)

An earlier strike, planned for 1 August, was suspended after the parties agreed to hold a series of meetings this month in an attempt to resolve the differences. Those talks took place but fell short of resolving all matters in dispute.

“Tomorrow’s strike will inconvenience members of the public and users of the company’s venues. We very much regret this. However BECTU has been prepared to negotiate a settlement to the matters in dispute; management has only been willing to consider talks about talks.

“Our members deserve decent pay for the responsible work they undertake, often at unsociable hours; tomorrow’s strike could have been avoided had management been prepared to negotiate.” explained BECTU’s Scottish Officer, Paul McManus.

Ends.