August 2007 saw a very significant victory for 600 Glasgow Social Care Workers. After 20 days of indefinite strike action these workers - members of the Unison trade union - won a decisive victory in their dispute with Glasgow City Council.

Brian Smith the Glasgow Unison Social Work Services secretary reports on the outcome and the lessons of this important strike for all public sector workers in Scotland.

The strike produced significant wage increases which now sees a starting salary of £24,200 for the vast majority of Social Care Workers in Glasgow -This is higher than some local authorities start qualified social workers. 

For almost 400 workers, including the new starts, the deal means a wage increase of between £1,000 and £2,400 immediately.

Solid Strike

The Council had rejected the workers case who wanted to be to be graded at a higher level (Role Profile 5) at a Review Hearing. Instead the employer threatened to use the anti-trade union laws against the workers original strategy of "working to role profile." 

This made a nonsense of the statement from the Council spokesperson at the end of the dispute that all this "could have been done through negotiation without a strike". 

The Council forced the strike but completely misjudged the mood of these workers and the support they would receive from the rest of the workforce. 

This is the second time the City Council has been forced to retreat in the last year. In December 2006, 12,000 Glasgow Unison members threatened to strike without providing any emergency cover to stop pay cuts for over 3,000 council workers.

These victories show that industrial action does deliver improvements for workers and their families.

Lessons of the Action

There are many lessons from this dispute. As well as the clear justness of the strikers case - organisation and activity was also important.

A "strike organising committee" met daily during the strike and was used effectively. Planned activities were important in keeping members active. 

 The daily meetings allowed those members who wished to do more to come together and organise street collections, lobbies of the Council, assist at workplaces that needed help with picket lines, plan publicity work, etc.

Lastly, and most crucial, were the mass meetings. Six meetings took place (every Tuesday and Friday). These ensured that the members came together on a regular basis to consider the Council's offers, re-energise themselves and of course determine in a democratic fashion how the dispute developed. 

Many members commented on how important these meetings were in sustaining the strike.

The strike is now stimulating discussions within Unison throughout Britain. The strike will have given confidence to workers across the country in the battles they face over the implementation of the Single Status Agreement.

Solidarity’s role

Members of Solidarity played a key role in the strike.

Two Solidarity members were part of the four person negotiating team and played central roles in the mass meetings. 
Another chaired the daily meetings. Several other members of Solidarity were key in the organisation of the street collections which raised almost £20,000.

Ruth Black, Solidarity Councillor, was the first elected politician to speak at any of the mass meetings and was given a warm reception. 

The SNP also sent a councillor and two local MSPs to subsequent mass meetings. Their support was welcomed by the strikers. However, the SNP-led Scottish Executive made no public comment on the dispute.   It will be interesting to see whether they now honour their previously made public statements that the Scottish Executive should fund the Equal Pay/Single Status agreements.

The strike was a success on many fronts. We can now use these gains to build for future actions and strengthen the union in the months ahead.