Union leaders launched talks with Glasgow Housing Association this week in a bid to safeguard the jobs of hundreds of concierges working in high-rise blocks set for demolition.

The association is expected to announce soon the result of its review of future demolitions in the city. Trade union the GMB hopes to report to a meeting of concierges by 17 May that there will be no job losses among its members.

“We are extremely hopeful that we will not get into the situation of compulsory redundancies,” said GMB organiser Mark Doran.

The talks will also aim to safeguard GHA concierges’ pension schemes. It is feared that those pensions will be frozen under plans to split up GHA into 61 local housing organisations. This is because the new local housing organisations could not afford to take them on.

A spokeswoman for GHA said: “GHA has consistently said there will be no compulsory concierge redundancies as a result of planned demolitions, so long as there is flexibility in how staff are redeployed.”

Source

Housing Today