Residents asked to prepare for Strike Action

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The Council has published advice and guidance to help residents manage the impact of planned strike action in the city.

The industrial action by members of the GMB and Unite unions, which is scheduled to last from 18–30 August, is expected to cause significant disruption to the city’s waste and cleansing services.

Residents are being asked to check the dedicated pages on the Council’s website and social media channels for advice on how to manage their waste safely and responsibly during the strike. Regular updates on suspended services and on when collections will restart following the strike will be posted as and when they become available.

It is anticipated that all bin collections and street cleaning will be affected. The city’s three recycling centres will be closed and bulky uplift and flytipping services will also be paused as a result of the action.

Commercial waste services for businesses are not collected by the Council and will continue as normal, as will street cleansing on the High Street and Mound Precinct, which are managed by the Fringe Society.

Affected services

The following services will be paused during the strike action:

  • Waste and recycling collections, including all communal and kerbside bins and boxes
  • Street cleansing including litter bins
  • Recycling centres
  • Flytipping collections
  • Bulky uplift service

Council leader Cammy Day said:

It’s now looking increasingly likely that industrial action will go ahead here in Edinburgh and in other cities across the country. Together with my fellow council leaders, I’ll continue to press the Scottish Government to resolve this as quickly as possible.

I firmly believe that all council colleagues deserve to be paid fairly for the work they do and have every right to take this action and have their voices heard. As the lowest funded council in Scotland, it’s time for the Scottish Government to properly fund our Capital city and its services.

I fully appreciate the impact this action will have on our city and we’re asking residents to be patient and work with us to help manage the inevitable impacts by planning ahead and following our advice. We’ve published tips on what to do with their waste and recycling and how they can help us to keep the city as clean as possible during and after the strike.

We’re also reaching out to our tenants and housing associations, businesses, festivals and other partners asking them to share our messaging and provide whatever support they can during this busy and important time for our Capital city.

We’re developing a detailed recovery plan so clean ups can begin and services can resume as quickly as possible after the strike.

Please continue to check our website and social media channels for updates.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: 

Unite’s members can’t tolerate derisory pay offers any longer from COSLA or the Scottish Government who ultimately control the purse strings. We believe the public of Edinburgh and across Scotland will support our members in taking this stand because no worker should be forced to accept a ‘take it or leave it’ real terms pay cut. Our members simply have no choice but to take strike action in their fight for better jobs, pay and conditions.

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