Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Agency staff used to help bin uplifts
DUNDEE City Council has drafted in extra staff to help collect bins as part of a new recycling rollout.
Agency workers are helping to drive bin lorries on various routes as the local authority deals with a bigger workload.
It comes after a raft of complaints about the new bins scheme, with residents claiming their waste hasn’t been uplifted on time, and issues with containers overflowing with rubbish.
Union chiefs said today staff morale was “very low” as a result of the new scheme and that agency workers were covering up a shortfall in full-time employees.
George Barr, who represents staff in the city council’s environment department through Unite, said the extra staff were plugging gaps in the workforce and claimed the situation was having an impact on residents’ bin collections.
He told the Tele: “There is a shortfall of staff trained to drive HGV lorries at the moment in Dundee.
“There is shortfall of about three drivers, meaning agency staff are being brought in to do the job.
“I would hope it’s only a short-term solution and it will be rectified soon, as I do understand people are currently undergoing the training they need.
“But it should never get to the point where agency staff are having to be drafted in.” Mr Barr claims agency staff can lead to runs being slower or collections even being missed, as many won’t have the same knowledge of routes. He added: “The council needs to be flexible and provide opportunities for those who need the training. “If it were up to me, then I would never have any agency staff but I realise that is not an option. Staff morale is very low.
“The council did not think to ask us once about what we thought.
“There is a major problems with the system and we are the ones that feel it most from residents.
“I wish it hadn’t been pushed through so quickly — it’s been a total nightmare.”
A spokeswoman for Dundee City Council said: “With such a major change, we have engaged a small number of additional drivers over and above our dedicated workforce for the rollout of the new system.
“Once the rollout has been completed then we will revert back to our core workforce.”