Council Services have resumed today (Wednesday 27 June) following the strike action taking place in East Dunbartonshire on 21, 22, 25 and 26 June.
Joint Council Leader Vaughan Moody said, “It was regrettable that our negotiations did not avert the industrial action which led to significant service disruption for our residents. We continued to deliver life and limb services throughout the strike period and thank residents for their understanding during this challenging time.”
Joint Council Leader Andrew Polson added, “Services resumed across the Council today and all facilities that had been closed by the strike are now open. We appreciate the patience shown by residents as they faced the challenge of closed services and facilities and the disruption that caused them.”
Strike action ended at midnight on Tuesday 26 June with normal service resuming on Wednesday 27 June. Grey waste bins that were not picked up on strike days will be collected this week. Food waste collections were suspended on strike days and food waste bins should only now be presented on the usual collection day. Garden waste collections were suspended until Friday 29 June and green garden waste bins should be presented on the usual collection day from Friday.
Action short of strike action continues across service areas including working to rule and no overtime. Assessments on service impacts are ongoing and we will continue to advise should there be any disruption to services.
Councillor Moody continued, “The Budget decisions we took in March whilst impacting on terms and conditions were taken to preserve services and jobs. We had to find savings of over £19 million this year and an alternative to reducing or stopping services was to look at saving in relation to the terms and conditions of our employees.”
Councillor Polson confirmed, “The Council has had to reduce its operating budget by tens of millions over the past ten years and we must set our budget in line with our Scottish Government settlement. The decisions taken for 2018/19, whist impacting on the working day and annual leave of our employees, meant that we could continue to deliver all Council services without having to lose jobs.”
Discussions with trades unions will continue with meetings set up over the coming weeks.