Waste workers get 10% pay rise

Waste workers in Somerset have been awarded a 10 per cent pay rise.

Around 100 workers employed by Bath and North East Somerset Council will receive the increase in a deal negotiated by Unite.

Loaders and LGV drivers employed at the Ashmead Road and Midland Road depots in Keynsham will see an immediate 10 per cent uplift in pay. All other waste service workers will see their pay grade increased by one level.

The deal is on top of the Local Government Association’s (LGA) offer for council workers across England, Wales and Northern Ireland of £1,925 for 2022. The workers will be balloted on whether or not to accept the LGA’S offer but will receive the locally negotiated pay rise regardless of the outcome.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “This is an excellent result for our members at Keynsham and shows that local authority workers do not just have to abide by the wage structure dictated by the LGA. Our public sector workers deserve to be paid and treated decently.”