Hertfordshire Council leader urges talks to avoid Welwyn Hatfield bin strike

COUNCIL leader Paul Zukowskyj has urged union leaders and waste contractors Urbaser to continue their pay talks – in an 11th hour bid to halt plans for a bins strike in Welwyn Hatfield.

Refuse collection and street cleansing workers are due to walk-out across the Welwyn Hatfield borough from Monday (June 19), as part of a pay dispute with employers Urbaser.

Emergency plans are being drawn-up in a bid to ensure residual waste – that’s the black bins – is still collected.

But Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council leader Paul Zukowskj warns that green waste, recycling and food waste collections are expected to be cancelled until the dispute can be resolved.

Bin workers voted to strike after union officials rejected an initial pay offer of 6.8 per cent.

Pointing to inflation levels (RPI) of 11.4 per cent, union officials have said that 6.8 per cent offer amounts to a substantial real terms pay cut.

Meanwhile Urbaser say a further offer was put to the unions earlier this week, in ‘an attempt to prevent interruption to services’ – but was rejected.

Now Cllr Zukowskyj is publicly urging the company and the union to work together to reach a solution.

“I think Urbaser and Unite need to get together to negotiate,” said Liberal Democrat Cllr Zukowskyj, who has been leader of the council for just over a month.

“I think they need to sit down and thrash out a solution.”

Council officials are expected to formally confirm changes to bin collections, as a result of the action, by the end of the week.

But Cllr Zukowskyj says green waste collections, food waste and recycling collection are expected to be suspended.

Residents will be asked to put food waste in their black bins, until the dispute can be resolved.

And they will be asked to clean and keep recyclables – such as cans, bottles and cardboard – in rubbish sacks, until collections are restarted.

Cllr Zukowskyj regrets that the sending of food waste to landfill or incineration – rather than for anaerobic digestion – is a ‘disaster’ in environmental terms.

And he urges people to hold back their recyclables – rather than throwing thin in the black bin – so that they do not end up in landfill or incinerated.

Paid-for ‘green’ garden waste collections are also likely to be suspended during the strike, says Cllr Zukowskyj.

And council officials are still working out how residents could be recompensed.

However Cllr Zukowskyj says that it is likely to be reflected in bills next year – with two-tier pricing for new customers and those who have had missed collections during the dispute.

“This is a dispute between Urbaser and their employees,” said Cllr Zukowskyj.

“It’s frustrating that it impacts on the residents of Welwyn Hatfield.

“And we will do everything we can to minimise the impact of this unfortunate dispute.”

According to Unite, most of the loaders and street cleaning staff in Welwyn Hatfield are paid the national minimum wage of £10.42 an hour – with drivers on £15 a hour. And this, they say, is significantly below industry rates

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham has said it is “astonishing ” that Urbaser think it acceptable to pay these front-line workers such low wages.

And she suggests Welwyn Hatfield Council should be ‘hanging its head in shame’ for allowing such low wages.

Meanwhile Unite regional officer Richard Gates says that the council has a ‘moral duty to ensure that these workers receive fair pay’.

And he said: “Strike action will inevitably cause extreme disruption throughout Welwyn, Hatfield and the surrounding areas but this dispute is directly a result of Urbaser’s refusal to make our members an offer that meets their expectations.”

In response to the ongoing dispute Urbaser’s head of commercial Gary McKinnon stresses that the company would like to avoid industrial action.

“Urbaser Ltd values all of its staff members, and we would like to avoid any industrial action which would result in lost earnings to our workforce and cause disruption to waste collection and street cleansing services,” he said.

“Contrary to claims made by Unite, having commenced operations in April 2020, we have increased pay for all Welwyn Hatfield staff above national minimum wage and will continue to do so as we move beyond the current negotiations.

“In a further attempt to prevent an interruption to services, an improved offer was issued this week but was rejected by Unite with no counteroffer made.

“We would however like to reassure residents that we are preparing measures to mitigate the disruption to services if the strike goes ahead.”

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