by Cameron Scott
After a relatively quite summer, unions here in Scotland who represent various public sector roles have been taking to the streets once again to demonstrate and campaign against proposed service cuts, job losses and below inflation pay awards.
Staff at Glasgow’s museums and galleries, represented by Unison, are facing a 30% reduction in positions and have been campaigning each week since August at various locations across the city. Additionally, at the end of August the Fire Brigades Union held a rally in George Square to protest against an £11 million package of cuts that would see appliances removed from some stations and also introduce a change to water rescue services, both of which would see a combined reduction of around 200 jobs.
The city’s parking attendants, represented by the GMB and Unite unions, held a one-day strike on the day that the Scotland and England national football teams met in Glasgow to celebrate 150 years of rivalry. The pickets marked the occasion by wearing masks representing both of the respective government leaders, while the Scottish football team marked the occasion by losing again.
Last but by no means least, lecturers and staff at the city’s colleges and universities have been campaigning against a proposed trade off between jobs and salaries whereby any pay awards granted will be offset by job losses, a situation that the Unite, Unison and Educational Institute of Scotland unions cannot accept for their members. This culminated in a day of action where various picket lines marched through the city to a rally held at the usual location in Buchanan Street.
From a photography perspective this was business as usual for me, essentially picking up from where I had left off in the Spring after covering the previous period of industrial unrest for nine months. However, it was nice to catch up with some of the friends that I had made during that campaign and indeed make some new ones. I have a feeling that I’ll be seeing more of them in the weeks and months ahead.
