EXCLUSIVE: GMB Scotland is to ballot the team controlling the tunnel in Glasgow on industrial action after a council pay offer was overwhelmingly rejected.
The Clyde Tunnel was opened in 1963 and links Whiteinch and Linthouse(Image: Daily Record)
More than 60,000 drivers a day face traffic chaos as strikes could close the Clyde Tunnel.
GMB Scotland is to ballot the team controlling the tunnel in Glasgow on industrial action after a council pay offer was overwhelmingly rejected.
Glasgow City Council is being given notice of the formal vote on strikes today as the union warns action could shut down the tunnel linking the north and south of Scotland’s biggest city.
Keir Greenaway, GMB Scotland senior organiser in public services, said: “The workers at the Clyde Tunnel ensure thousands of motorists travel safely and without delay every day.
“They keep the city moving and without their expertise and experience, one of Scotland’s most important roads could close with untold disruption.”
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The vote on strike action will take place next week. The Clyde Tunnel is used by 65,000 cars, vans and lorries a day. It is a key route connecting the north and south of Glasgow.
The Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) – Scotland’s biggest hospital – sits next to the Govan side of the tunnel.
Workers in the control room on the Whiteinch side monitor a battery of cameras 24 hours a day, control ventilation, and respond to breakdowns and other emergencies.
Greenaway said a three per cent offer made to council workers was clearly unacceptable and industrial action seems inevitable if it is not improved.
He said: “The offer is nowhere close to matching the commitment of council workers, adding pennies to the hourly rate paid to the lowest-paid staff.
“The frontline roles of our members on the Clyde Tunnel and their colleagues across Scotland’s councils deserve to be properly recognised and fairly rewarded.
“They have been offered an annual increase below inflation as household bills continue to climb.
“No one, not least the councils, could have been surprised when it was overwhelmingly rejected and they should not be surprised when our members take whatever action is necessary to be paid fairly.”
It comes after a consultative ballot of GMB Scotland members in councils revealed 96 per cent of those voting backed walkouts if local authority body Cosla did not improve the pay offer.
The Clyde Tunnel is the busiest stretch of non-trunk road in Scotland. Trunk roads are national roads managed by the Scottish Government, but the tunnel is not included as Glasgow City Council has responsibility for it.
Using the last available Transport Scotland figures from 2019, the Clyde Tunnel has more daily users than all non-motorway roads except the Edinburgh bypass at Dreghorn.
A Glasgow City Council spokeswoman said: “We will await the outcome of the ballot and officers will continue to engage with unions.”
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