The two month strike by staff across Glasgow day care centres
ended on December 6th with a slim majority vote of 11 in favour of a return to
work. However Unison leaders are being heavily criticised by the strikers, many
of whom feel they were ‘bounced’ into accepting the union’s advice to call off
the action and not having enough time to discuss the outcome of negotiations.
At the same time they claim union leaders did not tell them of developments.
The strike was over the City Council’s proposals to implement a ‘modernisation’
programme which would have meant the closure of half the council’s centres, and
a regrading of staff to the detriment of a substantial number. At the end of
November, the strikers arranged a series of meetings involving reps of 4,000
workers in 20 workplaces across the council’s social work department.
Consequently, in a ballot, the social workers supported a call for strike
action by more than 8 to 1. This development significantly strengthened the day
care workers’ action and would certainly have led to even more council workers
becoming involved. Many workers are now saying they had no knowledge of the
social work department workers’ decision. Glasgow City Council had earlier said
they would not meet the union while the day care workers were on strike.
Clearly, the result and strength of the ballot by the social workers was
the decisive factor in forcing the council to meet with Unison
representatives on Wednesday December 5th. The recommendation to return to work
was made at a mass meeting the following day.
Yet the deal appears suspiciously sketchy with many of the striking workers
apparently still unaware of the detail. At the time of writing, all that is
concretely known is that staff will not be regraded in the initially proposed
way - most will not lose out – and there will be no compulsory
redundancies. But the closure programme remains unresolved and, as a result,
this matter has not been put to bed. The very close vote in favour of returning
to work indicates that many workers were prepared to carry on with the strike
action. It was the most militant action of recent years and the union’s
decision to recommend an end to the strike is puzzling considering the strike
was solid and the social work department’s intention to take action would
almost certainly spread, leaving the council in chaos.
With the Tartan Tories, the SNP, now in a majority in the Scottish Parliament,
having ordered a swinging round of cuts amounting to £2.7 billion in a blitz on
public spending, the failure to resolve the closure of half of Glasgow City
Council’s day care centres, ensures that this struggle is not finished. Other
council workers throughout Scotland will almost certainly be forced to take
industrial action in the near future as more jobs and services come under
threat. Glasgow could have taken the lead and led the way in sending the SNP Tories
‘homeward tae think again’. Instead, the union leaders appear to have botched
what was a magnificent struggle by the rank and file council workforce.
