>#Public forced to clean Edinburgh streets as binmen strike
>Street performers and residents are cleaning up Edinburgh’s rubbish-strewn streets after bin workers began a 12-day waste collection strike.
>Communal and kerbside bins will remain uncollected until Tuesday of next week after a dispute between unions and the Labour-led council. The city centre was last night awash with litter while public bins were overflowing at the height of the festival season.
>Cammy Day, the council leader, said he is reaching out to tenants, housing associations and businesses asking them to “provide whatever support they can during this busy and important time for our capital city.”
>Kevin Powell, a performer appearing in the Fringe, has been helping to tidy up Blair Street in the city centre.
>“The way I see it is that it’s our festival so we’ve got to try to keep things clean and tidy regardless of what is going on,” he said. “It’s not just me doing this, it is residents and some stallholders. We’ve all got to do our bit to try to keep the area clean.
>“Around this area there are a lot of street shows, some of the acts do dangerous stunts and the last thing they want is a pile of rubbish getting in their faces.”
>Noa Barak, of the Edinburgh Press Club café on Cockburn Street, told BBC Scotland that the streets were “pretty pristine” until the strike.
>“I would love for them [the striking refuse teams] to get higher wages because I think they deserve it, but it would be nice to have clean streets again. It just feels gross to walk on the streets right now,” she said.
>Local authorities on Friday increased their pay offer from 3.5 per cent to 5 per cent but until they vote to accept it, the Edinburgh industrial action will continue as planned.
>__Dustbin lorry drivers switch to school run__
>Bin lorry drivers are being redeployed to drive pupils to school after a problem with bus contracts left more than 1,000 children without transport (Lucinda Cameron writes).
>Around 1,400 pupils in North Lanarkshire were affected last week after Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) was unable to put in place a number of school bus contracts in time for the start of term.
>The council is now redeploying drivers who normally drive children with additional support needs (ASN), who will instead drive 10 buses which the council has secured to take children to school.
>Bin lorry drivers from the waste fleet will be redeployed to drive the ASN children to their place of learning.
>As a result the council is temporarily suspending blue bin collections.
>North Lanarkshire Council said: “While work has been carried out to reduce the number of school bus routes affected, many remain unserviced. The council has a legal duty to transport children who are eligible to school.
>“To assist Strathclyde Passenger Transport (SPT), who have sourced some additional buses but have been unable to engage drivers, some of our appropriately trained and qualified drivers will be required to drive buses for school transport.
>“While we will seek to engage replacement drivers as quickly as possible, this means that we have taken the difficult decision to suspend collection of blue paper and card bins for the next three weeks, until Monday September 12.”
>It added: “We apologise for the inconvenience this temporary suspension of service will cause.”
The council said that an escort with protecting vulnerable groups (PVG) approval will be on every bus.
>It said fewer than 180 pupils will be affected by transport issues this week and said it is continuing to work with SPT to resolve the issue.
SPT apologised for the situation.
>It said it has seen an unprecedented volume of contract renewals this year, given short-term contracts were put in place during the Covid-19 pandemic.
>SPT said: “While we have ensured contracts for the majority of councils on time and ahead of the new school year beginning, a number of bus operators have – at short notice – now declined a number of approved and awarded contracts in North and South Lanarkshire.
>“We apologise to all parents, pupils and schools affected. Due to the short notice given by operators, we have not been able to put in place alternative arrangements.
>“Our schools’ team is working hard to find transport on a temporary emergency basis for pupils affected.”
So they’re strike breaking?
This is year 12 of the Tories long term economic plan.
Remember: friends don’t let friends vote Conservative.
I really do empathise with strikes but doing it during the fringe isnt fair. Lots of people are chasing exposure putting on shows at massive personal cost, and businesses desperate for tourist trade.
This was poorly timed and could decimate so many people.
According to a bunch of comments on /r/Scotland and /r/Edinburgh, the Labour city council deliberately sabotaged negotiations in the hopes that it would make the SNP look bad. No idea if they’re telling the truth though.
Feels like we are approaching de facto general strike territory.
Barristers, binmen, RMT, possibly nurses and teachers to follow.
This is a bit like foodbanks.
Exploit the public to cover for the failings of the state (or local authority).
I bet they’ll hail it as a shining example of citizenry.
Public forced to clean Edinburgh streets as council refuses to pay binmen properly.
Crown Prosecutors are also taking industrial action
Looking forward to taking my turn wearing a wig and gown
This shows how needed bin collection is, and so it makes ZERO sense that their wages are not rising in line with inflation or going up. This country is obsessed with everyone being on low wages, and the people up the top complains when people get a 6% pay cut instead of a 10% pay cut thanks to their inflation.
perhaps the public will now realise why they shouldnt be dropping litter.
11 comments
>#Public forced to clean Edinburgh streets as binmen strike
>Street performers and residents are cleaning up Edinburgh’s rubbish-strewn streets after bin workers began a 12-day waste collection strike.
>Communal and kerbside bins will remain uncollected until Tuesday of next week after a dispute between unions and the Labour-led council. The city centre was last night awash with litter while public bins were overflowing at the height of the festival season.
>Cammy Day, the council leader, said he is reaching out to tenants, housing associations and businesses asking them to “provide whatever support they can during this busy and important time for our capital city.”
>Kevin Powell, a performer appearing in the Fringe, has been helping to tidy up Blair Street in the city centre.
>“The way I see it is that it’s our festival so we’ve got to try to keep things clean and tidy regardless of what is going on,” he said. “It’s not just me doing this, it is residents and some stallholders. We’ve all got to do our bit to try to keep the area clean.
>“Around this area there are a lot of street shows, some of the acts do dangerous stunts and the last thing they want is a pile of rubbish getting in their faces.”
>Noa Barak, of the Edinburgh Press Club café on Cockburn Street, told BBC Scotland that the streets were “pretty pristine” until the strike.
>“I would love for them [the striking refuse teams] to get higher wages because I think they deserve it, but it would be nice to have clean streets again. It just feels gross to walk on the streets right now,” she said.
>Local authorities on Friday increased their pay offer from 3.5 per cent to 5 per cent but until they vote to accept it, the Edinburgh industrial action will continue as planned.
>__Dustbin lorry drivers switch to school run__
>Bin lorry drivers are being redeployed to drive pupils to school after a problem with bus contracts left more than 1,000 children without transport (Lucinda Cameron writes).
>Around 1,400 pupils in North Lanarkshire were affected last week after Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) was unable to put in place a number of school bus contracts in time for the start of term.
>The council is now redeploying drivers who normally drive children with additional support needs (ASN), who will instead drive 10 buses which the council has secured to take children to school.
>Bin lorry drivers from the waste fleet will be redeployed to drive the ASN children to their place of learning.
>As a result the council is temporarily suspending blue bin collections.
>North Lanarkshire Council said: “While work has been carried out to reduce the number of school bus routes affected, many remain unserviced. The council has a legal duty to transport children who are eligible to school.
>“To assist Strathclyde Passenger Transport (SPT), who have sourced some additional buses but have been unable to engage drivers, some of our appropriately trained and qualified drivers will be required to drive buses for school transport.
>“While we will seek to engage replacement drivers as quickly as possible, this means that we have taken the difficult decision to suspend collection of blue paper and card bins for the next three weeks, until Monday September 12.”
>It added: “We apologise for the inconvenience this temporary suspension of service will cause.”
The council said that an escort with protecting vulnerable groups (PVG) approval will be on every bus.
>It said fewer than 180 pupils will be affected by transport issues this week and said it is continuing to work with SPT to resolve the issue.
SPT apologised for the situation.
>It said it has seen an unprecedented volume of contract renewals this year, given short-term contracts were put in place during the Covid-19 pandemic.
>SPT said: “While we have ensured contracts for the majority of councils on time and ahead of the new school year beginning, a number of bus operators have – at short notice – now declined a number of approved and awarded contracts in North and South Lanarkshire.
>“We apologise to all parents, pupils and schools affected. Due to the short notice given by operators, we have not been able to put in place alternative arrangements.
>“Our schools’ team is working hard to find transport on a temporary emergency basis for pupils affected.”
So they’re strike breaking?
This is year 12 of the Tories long term economic plan.
Remember: friends don’t let friends vote Conservative.
I really do empathise with strikes but doing it during the fringe isnt fair. Lots of people are chasing exposure putting on shows at massive personal cost, and businesses desperate for tourist trade.
This was poorly timed and could decimate so many people.
According to a bunch of comments on /r/Scotland and /r/Edinburgh, the Labour city council deliberately sabotaged negotiations in the hopes that it would make the SNP look bad. No idea if they’re telling the truth though.
Feels like we are approaching de facto general strike territory.
Barristers, binmen, RMT, possibly nurses and teachers to follow.
This is a bit like foodbanks.
Exploit the public to cover for the failings of the state (or local authority).
I bet they’ll hail it as a shining example of citizenry.
Public forced to clean Edinburgh streets as council refuses to pay binmen properly.
Crown Prosecutors are also taking industrial action
Looking forward to taking my turn wearing a wig and gown
This shows how needed bin collection is, and so it makes ZERO sense that their wages are not rising in line with inflation or going up. This country is obsessed with everyone being on low wages, and the people up the top complains when people get a 6% pay cut instead of a 10% pay cut thanks to their inflation.
perhaps the public will now realise why they shouldnt be dropping litter.