Glasgow's Fight For Equal Pay
The Daily Record article on the terrible state of Glasgow's streets included some very one-sided comments about the council's long running equal pay dispute which need to be corrected.
Glasgow SNP councillor Ruairi Kelly said: “The city’s cleansing budget has gone up by £14m since 2016, with investment in frontline staff, new back court and street bins, new street sweepers and improving conditions at depots. Gary Smith knows this.“And he also knows we’re still forced to spend huge sums just to send waste to landfill.
“His Labour Party pals failed to invest in the service and ignored the changes they knew they had to make when they ran the city, something else he is very aware of.
“We face new and increased challenges since 2017, not least the impact of the pandemic on staff, services, budgets, communities and our economy. And of course we’re paying back the £500m equal pay bill resulting from Labour’s discriminatory carve up with male workers at the expense of women - something the GMB did virtually nothing to challenge while Labour were in power. That has a massive impact on budgets.
“Cities everywhere are dealing with the impact of the past 18 months, increasing costs and the need to address the climate emergency.
"Dealing with these challenges isn't easy; but our response can’t be to just keep on doing more of what’s failed in the past and hope it goes away.
"Our door is always open to constructive discussions on how we collectively do that.”
Far-Fetched, Far-Right Smears (August 16, 2021)
I don't know who advised council leader, Susan Aitken to say that critics of Glasgow's filthy streets are using the language of the far-right.
But it is an ugly smear and big mistake especially as it's the workforce and ordinary citizens of Glasgow who are raising their voices - not hordes of angry fascists.
Glasgow's Getting Worse - Not Miles Better! (August 15, 2021)
Breaking News - Glasgow! (August 14, 2021)
The SNP have just announced they're throwing everything at 'Operation Clean Up Glasgow' in the run up to COP26!
Glasgow's Getting Worse - Not Miles Better! (August 13, 2021)
Glasgow’s problems with waste management, fly-tipping, litter and graffiti have all got much worse under the SNP - parts of the city resemble a midden these days!
And it's local people who are highlighting the council's failings rather than visiting politicians.
Glasgow's Getting Worse - Not Miles Better! (August 08, 2021)
I haven't read the Sunday Herald's full interview with Susan Aitken yet, but the point is that while people have dropped litter, fly-tipped and spray-painted graffiti on buildings for years - these problems have all become far worse under the SNP.
Glasgow's Getting Worse - Not Miles Better! (August 02, 2021)
More evidence from Glaswegians highlighting just what a 'midden' parts of the city have become - despite the claims from Glasgow Council that everything is just tickety boo!
I wonder if Glasgow's MSPs and MPs are all on holiday or something because to a woman and a man they're all as quiet as wee church mice?
Or maybe they've been ordered to 'wheesht for indy' by SNP HQ?
Operation Clean Up Glasgow! (Not Just For COP26!) July 28, 2021
Glaswegians are using social media to highlight just what a 'midden' parts of the city have become - despite the claims from Glasgow Council that everything is just tickety boo!
Anyone heard Glasgow's MSPs and MPs speaking out on this subject, by the way, or are they all still being as quiet as wee church mice?
Glasgow's Getting Worse - Not Miles Better (July 26, 2021)
Parts of Glasgow do look nice, but that's hardly the point when other areas of the city are filthy, unkempt and covered in ugly graffiti.
What's needed is a joined-up strategy led by the City Council and which is not just for the benefit of COP26.
Glasgow - Can't Catch the Vandals? (June 13, 2021)
More mindless graffiti spray painted on this building in Glasgow's west end.
Someone must know who this moron 'Jono' is and if the campaign to clean up Glasgow is to be taken seriously, there has to be a strategy for dealing with such deliberate anti-social behaviour.
Cleaning Up Glasgow (June 05, 2021)
Glasgow City Council said it was launching a new initiative aimed at cleaning up this 'dear green place' in the run-up to the CPO26 climate change conference in November.
I haven't heard much since, but they could make a start by dealing with old BHS building on Sauchiehall Street which has been allowed to become and ugly, terrible eyesore.
If so, I hope the city authorities don't just clean the place up for a few weeks while the visiting dignitaries are in town - then things slide back into a vandalised state of disrepair.
Because that would be treating the people of Glasgow as idiots and the last time I looked, my head doesn't button up the back.
Glasgow - 'Can't Catch The Vandals' (May 12, 2021)
I think I deserve a prize for this photo of the Police driving past ugly graffiti down on Clyde Street which boasts 'Can't Catch The Vandals'.
Now there's an obvious truth in this statement but in my view, Glasgow City Council doesn't have a credible strategy in place for tackling the problem.
Asking local citizens to play a part in cleaning up Glasgow is a good thing in principle.
The problem is that this should be an ongoing priority for the Council - not just a gimmick from the city's politicians in the run-up to the COP26 conference in November 2021.
Glasgow's Street Graffiti (May 10, 2021)
Council leaders are asking Glasgow citizens to play their part in cleaning up the city ahead of the international COP26 climate change conference in November.
So here's my tuppence worth - write to all the estate agents and tell them to stop polluting the city with their For Sale and For Rent signs.
If they don't listen, the Council should pass a local by-law allowing them to fine the culprits.
As far as I can see this street graffiti problem is entirely home grown and not the result of some Westminster plot, so the City Council must be able to tackle the issue.
And while I'm at it I must add that it's crazy that it takes an international conference for the SNP council to take graffiti and street cleanliness in Glasgow much more seriously.
