Glasgow school cleaners and janitors set for George Square rally

The staff will be urging Glasgow City Council to support them in their fight for pay and conditions parity with directly employed local government workers.

What do the cleaners want?

The union members are asking management at the services giant to match the value of the recent offer made to staff who work under the umbrella of COSLA.

Hundreds of cleaners and janitorial staff who serve Glasgow’s 30 local authority secondary schools, many of whom currently receive hourly minimums of just £9.31 and £10.05 respectively, previously voted by over 95 per cent in favour of strike action.

Three separate 24 hours strikes are now scheduled to take place next week from 00.01 hours to 23.59 hours on Tuesday, December 7, Thursday, December 9, and Saturday, December 11.

What is the union saying?

GMB Scotland organiser John Slaven said: “All school support staff should be valued the same for the vital work they do, so the message is clear: ‘Pay up for key workers’.

“The fact AMEY claims to put an “incredibly high value” on the efforts of staff while keeping them mired in low pay is simply not credible – they can more than match our members’ demands.

“What we want from Glasgow City Council is an effort to ensure AMEY to do the right thing, and a commitment that the council will stand with staff in this fight and not against them.

“We must make work better for our key workers, and if we are serious about a fair work agenda, then we’ll end two-tier pay and conditions across schools in Glasgow.”