Bin staff in Derbyshire and Amber Valley set to strike
BIN collection staff in the Derbyshire Dales and Amber Valley may go on strike over pay disputes, with unions warning rubbish could “build up in the streets”.
The strike notices and industrial action represent the climax of what has been several months’ of turbulence related to bin collections.
Services across the country, including several parts of Derbyshire, have been disrupted for months due to a variety of reasons. This has seen thousands of collections missed.
Councils in the Dales and Amber Valley have suspended garden waste collection – both paid subscription services – and have put stops on collecting excess recycling.
Services have been hit by staff absences due to Covid, lockdowns have stopped driver training, Brexit has hit the supply of European labour and low salaries have seen drivers and collection staff leaving.
These issues have been keenly felt in the Derbyshire Dales, with services outsourced to Serco, and in Amber Valley, which runs its collections in partnership with Norse, a subsidiary of Norfolk County Council.
In the Dales, Serco said it only has half the staff it needs and has claimed its contract with the district council is not profitable. It asked for the council to pay half of a salary hike in a bid to retain employees and attract more.
Serco bin staff in the Dales are paid £10.82 an hour, with the firm’s profits soaring to £120 million due to Covid contracts – six times the entire annual spending budget of Derbyshire Dales District 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 council 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 had failed in attempts to get the Army and fire service in to help with collections.
The union GMB has now said 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 services for local people throughout the pandemic.
“Local people and residents of the Derbyshire Dales will no doubt be disappointed and shocked by the actions of Serco for once 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, which could result in strike action. We’ll be with them 100% and are calling on the company to get back around the table with a proper pay offer.”
A Derbyshire Dales council spokesperson said: “Residents have suffered enough disruption to waste collections in recent times and we urge the GMB and Serco to reach agreement.”
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 and are disappointed by this decision to take strike action. We would urge the GMB to reconsider and resume discussions. In the meantime, we will do all we can to minimise disruption.”
In Amber Valley, garden waste collections have been suspended for two months but are to restart on Monday. It said the disruptions had been caused by staffing shortages, and the closure of the council’s waste transfer station in Somercotes.
This week borough councillor Trevor Ainsworth, cabinet member for the environment, formally apologised for the delays and “inconvenience”.
He said a large number of staff were off work long-term, with health issues other than Covid. The Somercotes transfer station will reopen 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.
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.” We remain hopeful that we can still achieve an agreement in the coming days.”
Amber Valley Norse says a strike could affect 10,000 households.