YOUNG trade union members have been honoured with a civic reception – even as older officials protested council cuts.

Members and delegates of the STUC youth conference, where a new committee was elected and issues facing youngsters were discussed, met at the Golden Jubilee Hotel in Clydebank on June 30.

Depute Provost Karen Conaghan held a civic reception after the event, the 78th annual conference, which had a theme of “controlling the future”.

She said: “It was great to meet with delegates and members at the STUC Youth Conference.

“They do an important job because they are the collective voice for young people, standing up for their peers on important issues and offering insight to the wider work of the STUC.

“I was delighted to be able to extend my thanks for the work they are doing and to be able to reassure them that young people will remain at the forefront of the council’s decision making.”

But the Joint Trades Union (JTU) had their own event, protesting council cuts at a demonstration outside West Dunbartonshire Council leader Jonathan McColl’s surgery in Balloch Library on June 30.

Thomas Morrison, of the Clydebank TUC and JTU, said: “Clydebank TUC welcome the fact that WDC gave young trade unionists a civic reception but it is a bit ironic that on the same day as they were handing out these platitudes, their own workforce were out on the streets demonstrating against (amongst other things) WDC’s attacks on trade union organisation and disrespectful comments about local trade union leaders.

“It will take more than tea and buns for this administration to gain any credence from the workforce and their unions. Try a no cuts budget.”