GLASGOW city CCTV workers rallied outside their employer’s headquarters yesterday as they prepared for a fourth strike this weekend to win equal pay for shift work.

The Unison members work 12-hour shifts, day and night, covering seven days a week every week of the year, but receive nothing on top of a basic wage of £8.25 an hour.

Employees of Glasgow City Council (GCC) and other workers employed by Community Safety Glasgow (CSG), an arms-length charity run by GCC and the Scottish Police Authority, receive an extra £7,500 for shift work.

The CCTV workers said they should also be entitled to this extra cash.

Unison CSG convener Chris McKenna told the Star that CSG had been “unwilling to enter negotiations to resolve the dispute up until now.”

The union met with CSG this week and was offered a £2,000 payment, which was previously rejected by members as it fell well below the £7,500 shift allowance other workers receive.

Mr McKenna accused CSG of “draconian bully-boy tactics” as the offer was time limited and the employer has threatened to withdraw it if staff did not accept the deal by next week.

He also warned that staff needed to be appropriately licensed to operate the CCTV cameras and that there were not sufficient qualified staff to carry out the full function, risking public safety.

“We have given the employer years to sort this out through a promised job evaluation scheme which has now been shelved due to Glasgow City Council’s budget cuts,” said a Unison spokesperson.

“Our members have been left with no option but to take strike action.”

Striking CCTV worker Stephen, who did not wish to give his full name, said: “All we’re looking for is equality and parity with other shift workers.”

He said CSG had been promising to grant the payment for the last eight years but had failed to deliver on its promise.

And he branded it unfair that CCTV employees were often “working nightshifts alongside other workers employed by CSG who get a shift allowance.”

A CSG spokesman said: “Public safety is paramount and we have a business continuity plan in place to enable us to monitor the city’s CCTV network.”