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GLASGOW — In Welsh, “Glasgow” means “dear green place”, nodding to the city’s parks, gardens and thriving green spaces. But according to Chris Mitchell, who has been a garbage collector there for over two decades, the only thing that thrives in Glasgow these days is “a mountain of waste”.
As diplomats UN climate summit in Glasgow As we preach this week about the need to reduce both greenhouse gas emissions and mass consumption to protect the planet, the reality of today’s trash society can be seen just a short distance from the door of the conference.
Outside the shimmering center of Scotland’s largest city, trash cans and bins abound. The city’s rat population has soared, with four garbage workers hospitalized for attacks in the past five months. And garbage is scattered on the streets.
Mr Mitchell, a senior official with the GMB Scotland union, which represents the city’s 1,000 garbage collectors among other workers, said they were fed up with the poor working conditions, so they staged an eight-day strike that ended on Monday. management and low wages. This is a cry for essential workers in Britain, the United States and other parts of the world who are pushing communities through the worst of the pandemic. they say they will no longer put up with overwork and underpaid.
“We kept people safe,” said Mr Mitchell, 45, who started working as a garbage collector when he was 16. “We care about the most vulnerable. We took care of the elderly,” he said. He appreciated the nightly applause for key workers during the pandemic. But now that coronavirus cases have dropped from their peak levels, he thinks the government has “abandoned the low-wage workers who are saving this country.”
In some parts of the city, garbage is now only collected every three weeks, up from once every two weeks about a year ago. This means garbage collectors, many of whom earn less than £20,000 ($27,000) a year, have to carry heavier loads up and down the steps.
In addition to less frequent pick-ups, garbage volume per household has climbed over the past two years, reflecting increased spending on takeout and online deliveries, according to Mr Mitchell.
“The epidemic created waste after waste,” he said.
City residents of approximately 635,000 inhabitants reduce their waste to help protect the environment, but garbage collectors like 26-year-old Jack McGowan say reducing collections is not an effective way to achieve this.
“Compartments are always like that,” he said on Wednesday, pointing to overflowing garbage bins behind an apartment block in Scotstoun, west of Glasgow city centre. “We need a better pay. Show some respect.”
Mr McGowan said he lived with his mother because he couldn’t put a mortgage on his £19,000 annual salary.
He said he only saw four rats jumping out of garbage cans that morning.
Glasgow supports the recycling program and efforts to be more environmentally friendly. But Mr. McGowan said he sees examples every day of people throwing non-recyclable trash into recycling bins.
Garbage collectors said they would strike again as Christmas approaches if their salaries are not raised. Glasgow City Council said in a statement that the council leader had already had extensive talks with the union and that “the door is open to all union colleagues”.
Council spokeswoman Fiona Ross said she could not go into further details as negotiations were ongoing.
Meanwhile, delegates at the COP26 summit in Glasgow say they’ve made some progress toward an agreement to prevent catastrophic climate change.
Wednesday, USA and China made a joint statement that they are committed to doing more to reduce emissions this decade, and that China has committed to address methane emissions for the first time. Separately, the United Nations climate agency has released a draft agreement calling on countries to “accelerate the phased removal” of greenhouse gas emissions.
But outside of the climate talks, there is growing frustration about the disconnect between policy makers and those most affected by climate change. Daily protests are held by youth activists, who say that countries’ commitments to goals decades away are not enough.
“Nobody today wants to bear the cost of preventing climate change,” said Sayantan Ghosal, professor of economics at Glasgow University business school. “They are willing to do it tomorrow, but not willing to do it today.”
There is also a gap between world leaders and business executives speaking this week about the urgent need for a clean energy transition, on the one hand, and working-class people on the other who will be most affected by the rising costs. associated with this transition.
Many of the lowest paid workers in society, including garbage collectors, more worried about rising food, rent and energy prices more than increasing temperatures. They often do not have the flexibility to spend more on more sustainable food and clothing.
People are leaving their jobs in record numbers as the US economy rebounds after the recession during the pandemic, according to data from the US Department of Labor. There are five million fewer people working before the epidemic startedand employers are struggling to find enough health workers, waiters, truck drivers and butchers.
This gave employees newfound leverage and power.
The number of striking workers in the US rose to over 25,000 in October.Compared to an average of 10,000 in the previous three months, according to data collected by Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations.
Famines have plagued Britain, which has struggled to find workers to make up for the thousands of European workers who left in the five years since Britain voted to leave the European Union.
Senior union official Mr. Mitchell said 20 drivers have left the garbage collection team in recent weeks for other better-paying truck driving jobs.
Union spokesman Peter Welsh said Scotland needed to invest in workers to help make the transition to a greener economy.
“There are huge, colossal challenges that I hardly think mainstream politics are beginning to grasp and understand,” he said.
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