24-hour strike by staff at Glasgow’s Tramway and Mitchell theatres

Published Friday 29 August 2008 at 12:10 by Lalayn Baluch

Staff at Glasgow’s Tramway and Mitchell Theatres have gone on a 24-hour strike following a pay dispute with the company responsible for delivering leisure activities in the city.

Today’s strike will be followed by a range of industrial action, which will impact the two venues and 70 other community facilities, and aims to make it impossible for Culture and Sport Glasgow to offer normal services over the coming weeks.

According to a statement from Bectu, the dispute centres on the company’s refusal to negotiate on the union’s claim for increased pay for facility officers and venue managers.

Bectu’s Scottish officer Paul McManus told The Stage: “The strike will inconvenience members of the public and users of the company’s venues. We very much regret this. However, Bectu has been prepared to negotiate a settlement to the matters in dispute, management has only been willing to consider talks about talks.

“Our members deserve decent pay for the responsible work they undertake, often at unsociable hours. The strike could have been avoided had management been prepared to negotiate.”

An earlier strike, planned for August 1, was suspended after the parties agreed to hold a series of meetings in an attempt to reach a resolution. The talks took place, but failed to resolve the dispute.