Pay dispute ‘could lead to rubbish piling in streets’
BIN COLLECTION WORKERS THREATEN SERCO WITH STRIKE ACTION
BIN collection staff may go on strike in a pay dispute, with union representatives warning rubbish could pile up in the streets.
The strike notices and industrial action - which includes potential slow-downs - represent the climax of what has been several months of turbulence related to bin collections in Derbyshire Dales, including Ashbourne and parts of the Amber Valley.
Collections across the country, including several parts of Derbyshire, have been disrupted for months. Thousands have been missed.
Councils in the Dales and Amber Valley have both suspended garden waste collections – paid subscription services – and stopped collecting excess recycling of items which do not fit in the main bins.
Services have been hit by staff absence due to Covid, lockdown periods have hit the number of drivers able to get their training, Brexit has halted the supply of European labour and low salaries have seen drivers and collection staff leaving the job.
The combination of issues has been keenly felt in the Dales, with services outsourced to private firm Serco. Amber Valley runs its collections through a joint company, Amber Valley Norse, in partnership with Norse, a subsidiary of Norfolk County Council.
Serco said it only had half the staff it needed and had struggled to fill posts, and has claimed its contract with the district council is not profitable. It asked the council to pay half of a salary hike for collection staff and drivers in a bid to retain employees and attract more recruits.
Serco collection staff in the Dales are paid £10.82 an hour, while the firm’s profits soared to £120 million due to Covid contracts – six times the entire annual spending budget of Derbyshire Dales Council.
A casting vote from the council’s Conservative chair saw money approved to pay for a hike to between £12 and £17 an hour.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service has not been informed of what current pay has been increased to or the offer for employees.
The council also agreed to suspend garden waste for a month, until late August.
It said in late August that excess recycling would not be collected for three months, with no restart date for separate food waste collections.
It called the situation an “emergency” and failed in its attempts to get the Army or fire service staff in to help carry out collections.
The union GMB has now said that staff in the Dales have voted “overwhelmingly” to support industrial action. A spokesperson said: “The result has been announced after the failure of company management to present a fair pay offer to workers, despite these key workers maintaining vital services for local people throughout the pandemic. Despite sincere and repeated attempts to reach an agreement with the company managers, this decision has been forced on hardworking refuse workers across the area.
“Residents of the Derbyshire Dales will no doubt be disappointed and shocked by the actions of Serco for again failing to avoid disruption by supporting its own employees.” Mick Coppin, GMB regional organiser, said: “This disruption could lead to waste and household rubbish building up in Derbyshire streets.
“The company needs to be serious about this risk and consider the needs of local communities.
“Our members employed by Serco are key workers and want nothing more than to serve their communities and keep Derbyshire clean.
“Our members have now sent a clear message in favour of industrial action over this dispute, which could result in strike action in coming weeks.
“We’ll be with them 100 per cent and are calling on the company to get back to the table with a proper pay offer.”
A Derbyshire Dales District Council spokesperson said: “Residents have suffered enough disruption to waste collection services in recent times and we urge the GMB and Serco to reach agreement as a matter of urgency without any necessity for the action that is being threatened.”
Andrew Smith, Serco operations manager, said: “We are proud of our workforce and in particular our frontline workers who have delivered essential services to the residents of Derbyshire Dales throughout the pandemic and would like to thank them for all of their support.
“It is always our intention to work in partnership with our trade unions and have been in negotiations with the GMB since April.
“In that time we have made a number of formal offers, the current of which is in line with what was being requested by the union at the start of these negotiations and are disappointed by this decision to take strike action, at an already challenging time for our frontline teams and residents alike. We would urge the GMB to reconsider and resume discussions as a matter of urgency.
“In the meantime, we will do all we can to minimise disruption caused by this strike action and offer our apologies to those residents whose collections may be affected during this period.”
In Amber Valley, garden waste collections have been suspended for two months but were set to restart this Monday although extra waste outside of bins will not be accepted.
It said the disruptions had been caused by staffing shortages, as well as the closure of the council’s waste transfer station in Somercotes.
At a meeting last Wednesday, Councillor Trevor Ainsworth, cabinet member for the environment, formally apologised for the delays and “inconvenience” caused to residents.
He said a large number of staff were off work long-term, for health issues other than Covid. Cllr Ainsworth said the Somercotes transfer station reopened on Monday.
Cllr Ainsworth said Amber Valley Norse had lost three drivers to rivals in what he described as “a competitive market for HGV drivers”, but had recruited three to fill the gaps.
He said the council and Norse were looking at ways to retain staff and could not promise there would not be any further disruption to collections.
In relation to industrial action in Amber Valley, a GMB spokesperson said: “Multiple factors have led to this result, which comes after weeks of attempts by employee representatives to find a resolution to issues raised by refuse workers.
“Management’s failure to offer a fair pay deal, after a year of working above and beyond on the part of these key workers, has been the final straw.”
Mr Coppin said: “As we all know, industrial action by refuse workers can have a huge impact on household waste collection and lead to rubbish collections delayed and waste piling up, that’s why this is always a last resort.
“The result of this ballot goes some way to showing the depth of feeling by a large group of Derbyshire’s key workers - people who kept our communities safe and clean throughout the pandemic.
“Refuse workers are key workers delivering services we all rely on. The public knows this and the Norse workers know this, so why are company management refusing to listen?
“Management needs to seriously consider what is at stake here and get around the table with an offer of fair pay for our members.”
A spokesperson for Amber Valley Norse said: “As part of our annual pay review negotiations, we made an initial pay increase offer to our waste collection service staff.
“This was rejected by union representatives, and subsequently, an increased counter offer was made by Amber Valley Norse.
“We are still awaiting the official rejection of this counter offer - and we have not, to date, had a suggested acceptable pay increase from the union representatives, GMB.
“In the meantime, we will continue to do all that we can to negotiate a reasonable and achievable pay increase for our staff, that reflects the hard work they do and our appreciation of their efforts. This must, as expected, be set against increased pressures on all council budgets, compounded by the effects of Covid-19.”
Management need to present a fair pay offer after these key workers kept services going
Union spokesperson
We are still awaiting the official rejection of this counter offer
Amber Valley Norse spokesperson