City street cleaners ‘in party season strike threat’
NIGHT-TIME bin workers and street cleaners could walk out in the run-up to Christmas amid a fierce dispute over staffing levels, the M.E.N. understands.
Staff are this week poised to ballot for industrial action, arguing Manchester council’s contractor Biffa is expecting too few people to clean up the city each night.
If no agreement is reached, the night shift could strike as soon as the first week in December, just as the festive shopping season kicks into gear.
The dispute is one of two currently playing out between Biffa and staff employed as part of Manchester council’s outsourced bins and street cleaning contract.
Scores of council bin workers transferred over to the firm when the arrangement began in 2015 are also being asked to take a pay freeze for several years while wages of those already working for Biffa catch up, a proposal that may yet also result in industrial action.
Manchester council told the M.E.N. that night shift patterns were a matter for Biffa and not the town hall, however, adding that it was also ‘usual’ for pay to be ‘harmonised’ when services were outsourced.
The news comes as councillors continue to question Biffa’s performance behind the scenes in the wake of a fractious meeting last month.
They have demanded to see details of the firm’s three-year-old contract after it emerged an array of problems had persisted since the firm was placed on an ‘improvement plan’ in 2017.
Members have also questioned why Biffa has had substantial sums of extra money from the council both for increased demand in the city centre – including pressures related to rising numbers of rough sleepers – and new vehicles, yet litter bins have continued to overflow and bin trucks are still breaking down.
Labour councillors have also raised concerns about employment practices, an issue flagged to them by trade union Unite.
One key dispute centres on intended changes to the number of people expected to sweep Manchester’s streets and empty its litter bins each night. Insiders said that at one stage, prior to Biffa taking over the contract in a town hall move aimed at saving £1.6m, there had been 14 people on the overnight shift.
It is understood that number now stands at nine, but the firm wants to cut that further on some shifts.
After weeks of impasse, trade union Unite is now expecting to serve strike notice this week with a view to triggering industrial action on or around December 6, unless a last-minute deal is struck.
Asked about the night-shift changes, Manchester council said: “The number of staff directly employed on the night shift is an issue for Biffa rather than Manchester city council, as the contract with Biffa is based on an output specification and therefore does not require them to employ a particular number of people to undertake the work.”
The potential industrial action and additional money provided by the council were both put to Biffa.
A spokesman said: “We wholeheartedly agree with the response that Manchester city council has provided and we have nothing additional to add.”