Campaigners from Unite and Unison call on Scottish Government to give struggling Glasgow venues more cash

Members from Unite and Unison, who organise workers at Glasgow City Council and Glasgow Life gathered outside of the Scottish Parliament as part of an ongoing campaign calling for venues that have been closed since March 2020 with no sign of re-opening.

People from branches across the city descended on Holyrood with placards emblazoned with “Save Our Venues.”

They were met by politicians including Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar and Glasgow MSP, Paul Sweeney.

Mr Sweeney called campaigners “inspiring.” He said: “”It was inspiring to see so many community activists and trade unionists travel through to the Scottish Parliament today. The source of Glasgow’s problems has been the Scottish Government cutting the city’s budget disproportionately over the last ten years, leaving some of the poorest communities in the country to fund the most popular museums and galleries, like Kelvingrove.

"It’s just one example of how Glasgow is getting a raw deal, and Susan Aitken is holding Glaswegians hostage to protect her party, rather than boldly standing up for our city against her bosses in Edinburgh.”

Wendy Dunsmore, Unite industrial officer, said: “We need the Scottish Government to step in and provide the necessary revenue to support local councils to keep these venues open.

“The venues contribute to the improved healthy life expectancy and mental well-being of our citizens. Hundreds of jobs are at stake and the quality of life for the people of Glasgow will be detrimentally impacted if these closures of cultural, sport and leisure venues go ahead.

“It’s time the Scottish Government get their finger out and give the people of Glasgow the funding they deserve to maintain our museums, sports centres, and cultural venues.”

Whiteinch, Maryhill, The Coupar Institute, The Gallery of Modern Art and Barmulloch libraries have been closed since March 2020. Each library has its own dedicated campaign to save it with venues holding read-ins every Saturday in order to raise awareness of why libraries are needed.

According to a report in our sister title, The Herald, Glasgow Life have only been able to open 90 of their 171 venues and have warned that they cannot open any more venues without a further cash injection.

Glasgow regional MSP, Pam Duncan-Glancy raised the issue at First Minister’s Questions today, asking Nicola Sturgeon what assessment the Scottish Government has made of the financial shortfall being experienced by Glasgow Life and if they would commit to give Glasgow the Money it needs to get the venues open and functioning again."

Ms Sturgeon said: “Across the city of Glasgow, the vast majority of libraries are open and available to people. A small number of libraries are not open, and there are reasons for that, which I know the council has set out. We indicated the provision of some further financial support to councils to get and keep libraries open, given the strong recognition of their importance in communities.

“On the wider issues around funding for local government, we are entering the budget process and the Scottish Government will set out the budget for the next financial year in early December, as was confirmed this week. We will have discussions across the chamber about the budget, as we always do, and we will have discussions with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities about the local government settlement. We will, as we have done every year, in difficult financial circumstances, be as fair to local government as we can possibly be.

“Of course, any member and, indeed, any party has the ability to come to the finance secretary and say where they want to see more money allocated. All that I would say is that, if they want to do that, they also have to say where they think that money should come from. That offer is open to parties across the Parliament.”