Defend the Strike

Union leaders in Glasgow have been told they face legal action for allegedly organising illegal pickets and wildcat action as a strike by 8,000 mostly female cleaners and care workers in a dispute over equal pay enters its second day.

Lawyers for Glasgow city council wrote to the GMB union to accuse its officials of organising an illegal walkout by 600 street cleaners and refuse workers and of setting up pickets that intimidated people not involved in the dispute. After the refuse collectors and street sweepers refused to work on Tuesday, the council threatened to invoke trade union legislation introduced by a Conservative government in 1992 unless the GMB formally repudiated their unofficial action.

The industrial action spread further on Wednesday morning, when upwards of 50 parking attendants refused to cross picket lines and were sent home.

“We will not be bullied by any employer, much less Glasgow city council,” said Rhea Wolfson, a GMB organiser. “It is shameful an employer like Glasgow has threatened to use Tory anti-trade union legislation against working-class women, and working-class men who have huge sympathy for these women.”

Wolfson denied the walkout by street sweepers, bin collectors and road workers was orchestrated by the GMB, or that the pickets were unlawful. “Individuals have exercised their consciences in choosing to support the action. It hasn’t been encouraged by the GMB,” she said.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/oct/24/schools-remain-closed-glasgow-equal-pay-strike-continues