Glasgow janitors stage further two-week strike

Janitors have staged 62 days of strike action since last March

Glasgow primary school janitors have started another two-week strike in a long-running dispute over plans to re-organise the service and pay.

Unison opposes plans to introduce 30 "operational clusters", ending the system of one janitor per school.

The union also wants janitors to be paid extra for tasks that are dirty or involve outside work and heavy lifting.

The proposals aim to save £515,000 while creating a modern facilities management service for primary schools.

The Glasgow City Council body Cordia has refused to pay janitors Working Context and Demands Payments, which range from £500 to £1,000 per year.

Unison has said these payments would cost Cordia about £120,000 per year.

A union spokesman said Cordia had already saved about £477,000 in wages over the 62 days of strike, with about 100 janitors losing out on £77 in wages per day.

New job title

Instead, janitors have been offered a pay rise of up to just over £1,000 in return for new working conditions.

There are currently 219 janitors employed at schools across the city.

The Cordia Janitorial Reform review would cut 33 jobs and see janitors given the new job title of "facilities assistants".

Within the remaining 186 posts, there would be 30 promoted posts of "facilities co-ordinators" to manage the operational clusters.

Cordia said there would be no compulsory redundancies, with jobs lost when people left or moved to other roles within the organisation.

Safety concerns

Unsion's Glasgow branch said the cluster model would leave schools without a janitor at certain points of the day, compromising many aspects of health, safety and security.

A Cordia spokesman said "The Cordia janitorial reform will create a modern facilities management service that places Cordia staff at the heart of local communities.

"When implemented, janitorial staff will see an increase in salary and other benefits and there will be promotion opportunities."

There had been concern that some janitors who live in a "tied house" as part of their job could lose their accommodation.

Cordia had said janitors were no longer needed 24/7 due to CCTV, alarms linked to control centres, and timers on heating systems.

However, the union said Cordia had since rolled back on these plans and it was unlikely any janitor would lose their house.