Strike at Culture and Sport Glasgow

Though this was sent for release the week beginning July 28 it seemed worth re-posting and maybe trying to solicit a report on how this strike action went or, if it is indeed ongoing, what's happening next. The strike was discussed at the recent Mute - Variant talk at the Publish and Be Damned bookfair and thinking about this as a response to the culture of neoliberalism that goes some way beyond artistic strategies of either institutional critique (1970s) or exodus (1990s) seems like a fertile thread of that discussion. It would be great to hear from any workers at CSG venues who may have been involved

PRESS RELEASE PRESS RELEASE PRESS RELEASE

BECTU STRIKE

AT CULTURE & SPORT GLASGOW VENUES THIS FRIDAY

Hundreds of Private functions such as Dances and Wedding parties as well as a range of Culture events and some Sports facilities will be hit by strike action at up to seventy Culture & Sport Glasgow sites across Glasgow starting from this Friday 1 August as angry BECTU members walk out in a dispute over managements continued attacks on the pay and conditions of the ex-council staff now employed by the private company, Culture & Sport Glasgow.

A range of industrial action will follow Friday’s stoppage which will make it impossible for Culture & Sport Glasgow to offer any kind of normal service in the coming weeks. The Tramway and Mitchell Theatres, around 70 ex-council Community Facilities such as Langside and Partick Burgh Halls and some Sports Facilities will all be affected by the action.

On 1 April 2007 around 2,000 staff were transferred away from Glasgow City Council and into the new Private Company which has a number of Labour Councillors on its board including Steven Purcell, the leader of the council. At the time the Council argued that by setting up Culture & Sport Glasgow it would save millions of pounds in VAT payments and the new Company would be millions of pounds better off through increased private and public funding which it could not access as a Council department. Staff were also given many promises that they would be no worse off than their council colleagues by moving into the privatised company.

However since the changeover staff feel that management have waged a vendetta over their pay and conditions in an effort to slash staff costs and increase responsibilities, workloads and hours.

BECTU Scottish Organiser, Paul McManus says his members don’t want to see the ordinary public suffer through cancelled events but accuses the company of hypocrisy over its treatment of staff and says his members have spent almost a year in negotiations trying to get Culture & Sport Glasgow to agree a way forward on these issues but now that management have resorted to imposing cuts on its members then as a very last resort staff are taking this action.”

BECTU is aware that Culture & Sport Glasgow is attempting to draft in managers and staff from other areas to staff these events but cautions the public that many of these staff have no knowledge of the required fire and safety management procedures for these buildings and BECTU believes that Culture & Sport Glasgow is prepared to risk the public’s safety in order to protect its cash income.

McManus also says “There are two main issues at the core of these problems. On the one hand the Company has said publicly that it must follow the councils pay and grading system but then on issue after issue it announces to staff that it intends treating them much worse than the council staff.

Secondly Culture & Sport Glasgow is demanding that staff carry out a wide range of responsibilities and work long and unsociable hours which it then is not paying staff for.

For example months ago we agreed in writing with Culture & Sport Glasgow that Community Facility Officers should not be asked to walk about the streets carrying thousands of pounds in cash takings. They agreed that this endangered the safety of staff and the money should be collected by secure transport. Now the Trust has written to BECTU members saying that if they refuse to carry the money they will be sent home and docked a days wages. This is a blatant attempt at bullying and intimidation and BECTU and its members will not accept this treatment.”

Low paid grade 2 Culture and Leisure attendants have been told that the company expects them to be responsible for the safety and security of all its facilities when Glasgow City Council has already upgraded many staff to grade 3 for taking on these extra duties.

More recently Glasgow City Council increased its annual leave allowance as a result of changes to employment legislation. At the same time Culture & Sport Glasgow told the unions that it was going to take six days public holidays away from staff.

Culture & Sport Glasgow has also recently advised the unions that it can’t offer the same annual pay rise as Glasgow City Council because the Labour Councillors who run the Company wont tell themselves how much they are going to give themselves in funding!

Scottish Organiser, Paul McManus, says “It’s no surprise to either myself or staff that Labour can’t get people to vote for it in Glasgow when we have the Labour leadership of the council running this private company which has managers who are now going round our members on a one to one basis in an effort to force them to break the strike and to bully them into doing work they are not getting paid for. The people of Glasgow would be better served if the Council and the Trust would accept BECTU’S repeated invitations to engage in finding a meaningful solution to these problems.”

Footnote to editors: BECTU understands that Unison is currently running a strike Ballot within Culture & Sport Glasgow over the payrise and annual leave issues while GMB and Unite are consulting their members in C&SG on running strike ballots on these issues.

For further info contact: Paul McManus, Scottish Organiser on tel;0141 314 0060, mobile 0777 559 2031 or Sharon Elliot, BECTU Communications Officer on 0207 346 0900