It comes after crew working on the city’s Southside were set upon by an irate resident.
Footage of the worrying incident, which took place in Kings Park Avenue on Monday, has been shared with the Glasgow Times.
It shows what appears to be a middle-aged female confronting the crew and challenging the driver.
(Image: Incident in King’s Park) She is then seen to try and wrench one of the vehicle’s doors open as she shouts and screams at the refuse team, before then attempting to stop the lorry moving off by blocking its path. The woman is seen moving to the front of the vehicle before she begins grabbing and twisting the window-wipers as the situation threatens to boil over.
The Glasgow Times understands that, despite being badly shaken, the crew took the decision not to report the incident to police and instead raised it with union representatives.
Chris Mitchell, GMB cleansing convenor, says the incident is typical of the type of aggression workers are now facing because of cuts to collections.
He added: “People have become increasingly frustrated by this situation.
“It used to be all of the bins were emptied every week, but over time this has gradually been eroded and scaled back. Some areas now will go a fortnight without having any household refuse taken away, which I believe is on the brink of becoming a health and safety issue.
“We are now at the point people are expected to pay for permits to have garden waste taken away and their main bins are left overflowing on a daily basis. This then leads to anger and discontent, understandably so in some cases, however this is now manifesting itself in violence, which can’t be allowed to continue.”
(Image: Incident in King’s Park)
Mr Mitchell says people must be able to feel safe while doing their jobs.
He added: “What happened earlier this week is just not on. People going about their work should never be exposed to this type of behaviour, and while I understand residents are angry at services being slashed, they need to remember the guys on the front line aren’t the ones making these decisions.
“It used to be people had a wave and a laugh with the refuse workers, but now crews are being met with violence and rage. These guys are doing their best to keep our city clean, but they need the resources from City Chambers to help them do that.”
A spokesperson for Glasgow City Council said: “Any abuse or violence directed towards our staff is completely unacceptable.
“The health and safety of our staff is an absolute priority and we have procedures in place to protect staff while in the course of their duties.
“The staff involved were not collecting bins at the time of the incident and our understanding is the incident is unrelated to any changes to waste management services.
“The police were called to attend and staff were able to continue without sustaining injury or harm.
A spokesperson for Police Scotland confirmed that they had taken no action in relation to the footage.
