Sources tell me that Scotland’s second city Glasgow could spend the run up to Christmas with the municipal parking operation closed down. Three years ago Glasgow set up City Parking with service provider SERCO as one of a number of arms length joint ventures. City Parking runs 16 car parks that together provide about 4,500 spaces in and around the city centre. The business also provides the City’s street parking enforcement staff and the tow away service.
The problem is that by forming the company the staff in car parks were taken outside local government pay and conditions - a fact the City seems to have forgotten. Local government agreed a national pay settlement of 0.65% this year and the City simply imposed this on the City Parking Staff. “No way” said the unions, “staff are no longer covered by national agreements, we work for a profitable private company and we want direct negotiations". Glasgow is already in a long running dispute with the outsourced museum staff and a further 5,000 staff in the JVs have also been recommended to reject the offer.
What will happen if the staff do strike is not clear. Dark warnings that the car parks will be closed down seems a little over-stated but users might be in for a free ride. Of greater concern would be what could happen if enforcement disappears from the streets. Parking enforcement may not be the most popular job but the anarchy of unregulated streets could make them the most popular people north of the border. With the advent of civil enforcement the police’s powers are limited and dire threats of taking the jobs away and getting in a private contractor seems unlikely in the light of the 10 years contract held by City Parking.
Watch this space. This could be fun.
Peter Guest
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