Bin lorry drivers in Glasgow threaten action over extra admin
The city council is asking them to process information about every street they visit on shift.
Bin lorry drivers across Glasgow are telling us they are under increasing pressure because they are being asked to do extra admin work.
The city council wants them to input information into a tablet about the cleanliness of every street they visit while on shift.
Growing workloads
Chris Mitchell from GMB Scotland told Greatest Hits Radio: "These workers are already under enough pressure and scrutiny because they are dealing with driving around narrow street corners and parked cars.
"They have also got the responsibility of looking after the truck, the crew and of course drive safely for up to 12 hours a day.
"This is taking away work from administrative staff and it seems as though there could be job cuts."
Calls for more money
Eighty-three HGV drivers are going to be balloted on taking action which is just short of striking in protest over the changes.
It would include avoiding stopping on double-yellow lines and double parking to collect bins which are in tricky spots.
Chris added: "This is cuts by stealth and it is putting every bit of responsibility on the drivers.
"If the council wants to give drivers more work to do then they must pay them more money."
Scrapping the need for paperwork
A spokesman for the council said: “Staff have always been required to record issues in relation to their work, but new technology give us the ability to move on from filling in paper forms manually,
“Introducing easy-to-use tablets can help us run our services more effectively and address the problems that come with using paper forms.
“The new devices allow issues, such as a missed bin collection or the presence of rats, to be recorded at the push of a button and that helps us deal with problems proactively.
“Better recording of data will also improve communication with the city’s residents when issues do emerge.”
“The range of data captured on the devices will be of great value to our teams and will help us deliver services for the city’s residents more efficiently.
“All drivers have been fully trained and all health and safety issues fully addressed as part of the implementation process.
“It is disappointing that the GMB have chosen to ballot this small group of employees as this issue has already been comprehensively reviewed and considered through our grievance procedures.
“It was concluded the use of the devices is in keeping with the role staff currently undertake and that they already paid appropriately for this work.”