Strike threat as bin workers dismissed
SEVEN refuse workers have been sacked for “time management” breaches by Caerphilly Council, prompting a threat of strike action by colleagues.
Confirming the sackings, a council spokesman said four of the seven are appealing and a further 20 are under investigation for the same reasons.
He said matters leading to the dismissals and investigation include “early finishes that were far beyond what was considered reasonable”, spending “excessive time” at the tipping site and “failing to tip green waste loads”.
Trade union Unison, which is representing some of the workers, said they lost their jobs “after complying with their supervisors’ instructions to leave work when their tasks for the day were complete”.
Unison regional organiser Jess Turner said her union and the GMB were in talks with Caerphilly Council, but if there was no resolution in the next few weeks members would be balloted for strike action and “the public will be affected by this”.
Members are particularly angry at the way they have been treated while under investigation compared to Caerphilly’s chief officer, Anthony O’Sullivan, who has been paid his full £137k-a-year salary for six and a half years after being suspended, she added.
In a statement Unison claimed cameras, installed on vehicles to protect against criminal acts from the public, were instead used to “spy on staff”.
More than 100 of the affected workers’ colleagues in the GMB and Unison staged a mass lobby of Caerphilly councillors arriving for the full council meeting in Ystrad Mynach on Thursday.
A council statement said: “Any disciplinary action taken against an employee is only done if there are appropriate grounds to undertake such an investigation.”