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In The South

GMB union targets Brighton Pride weekend for industrial action

Besi Besemar July 16, 2019

Organisers of Brighton & Hove Pride react to the announcement that Brighton’s bin men will go on strike over the weekend of Brighton Pride.

YESTERDAY, (Monday, July 15, the GMB Union issued a notice to Brighton and Hove City Council announcing Cityclean staff will stage full-day walkouts on Monday, July 29, as well as August 2, 3, 4 and 5. An overtime ban will also run until August 5.

The strike follows the failure to settle an ongoing dispute with Cityclean at their Hollingdean Depot premises where the Union has accused the council of “anti union behaviour.”

A spokesperson for Brighton and Hove Pride says: “Following the announcement yesterday that GMB union members are planning to go on strike over Brighton & Hove Pride weekend; we have contacted the union expressing our concerns on the effect this will have on the city, residents, visitors and businesses.  

We want to reassure visitors to Pride that we facilitate and manage the cleansing of all our official sites and the immediate surrounding area. Through our recently established City Angels initiative we have been reaching out to local retailers, restaurants, hotels and other businesses to promote and encourage shared responsibility for keeping the areas around their businesses clean, tidy and litter free.

In addition, we have sponsored The Big Pride Silent Disco Beach Clean on the Sunday of Pride weekend.  

In an increasingly divisive climate both globally and domestically, Pride is an opportunity to come together and celebrate the great diversity within our communities and great city.  We sincerely hope that the action is called off over Pride weekend.

A spokesperson for Brighton and Hove City Council says: “We’re still fully committed to resolving any outstanding issues through the ACAS talks to ensure the service we provide for our residents and businesses is maintained and not disrupted.

“During talks between the council, the GMB and ACAS there has been clear agreement on most of the issues that the union has concerns about, and another round of talks are due to take place this Thursday.

“We take seriously the allegations of anti-trade union behaviour and are investigating this.

“We’re also very disappointed that trust between the council and GMB has broken down, but we’re confident this trust can be rebuilt to the benefit of the service.

“The council has received a number of allegations and counter allegations which need to be investigated and we’ve agreed with the GMB to appoint an independent person from outside of the council to review this.

“The council has clear standards of behaviour to ensure everyone is treated with dignity and respect at work, and it is important that when there are allegations these are investigated appropriately and fairly through our procedures.

“We would therefore hope the union still meets on Thursday with ourselves and ACAS and seek to resolve the issue and avoid industrial action.”

Mark Turner
Mark Turner

Mark Turner, GMB B50 branch secretary, adds: “It’s been very much a case of one step forward two steps back by council officers in the meetings facilitated by ACAS, several times we thought that a settlement to the dispute was imminent as we seemed to agree on much more than divided us and that we were at the stage where simply changes to some wording in the working document was the only final stumbling block to avoid.

“We couldn’t have been more wrong as agreements we thought were signed off by all three of the city’s political parties were then revoked by the council officers and further vexatious claims against representatives of the GMB union suddenly appeared, leaving the officers demanding that the GMB rep’s exclusion from the Hollingdean Depot continued, even after agreeing that he should return to the workplace.”

All parties are meeting for further discussions with ACAS on Thursday, July 18.

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