South Gloucestershire bin workers extend strike action
Action is planned right through to September
Last updated 28th Jun 2023
Bin workers in South Gloucestershire will strike every day until September in an ongoing row over pay.
The Unite union has announced the news today saying around 150 workers employed by Suez on behalf of South Gloucestershire Council are beginning "indefinite action".
They began striking earlier this month after rejecting an offer of an eight per cent pay rise, which, with inflation at 11.3 per cent, they say equates to a real terms pay cut.
The Union says Suez earnt profits of £80.8 million pounds in 2021 according to its financial figures, while its bin workers earn just £11.53 per hour.
"The decision to intensify industrial action was taken after both Suez and South Gloucestershire Council ignored repeated requests by Unite to engage in talks to resolve the dispute," a statement from Unite reads.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Despite Suez’s claims about generous pay offers, its workers are on very low wages even though the work they do is heavy, difficult and dirty.
"It is a highly profitable company making tens of millions and can afford to give its struggling staff a reasonable wage increase.
“Unite never backs down from defending our members’ jobs, pay and conditions and Suez’s South Gloucestershire workforce have their union’s full support as they fight for fair pay.”
The workers initially took strike action from 12 June until 18 June.
Further action began this week and was due to last until 9 July, but has now been extended to last every day until 3 September.
Unite regional officer Ken Fish said: “Unite has repeatedly tried to initiate negotiations with Suez and South Gloucestershire council to bring this dispute to an end.
"It is a dereliction of duty to the public on the part of both organisations that these requests for talks have been ignored.
“Our members don’t want to strike, but their determination to ensure a fair pay deal is rock solid.
"Industrial action will continue until Suez puts an acceptable offer to our members.
"It is time the council intervened and told the company to do so.”
A South Gloucestershire Council spokesperson said: “We are aware of the planned industrial action and are working closely with Suez to ensure that they have appropriate plans in place to minimise any disruption to waste services in the area. We will keep residents updated if we become aware of any changes to collections and/or services.”
A spokesperson for SUEZ recycling and recovery UK said: "We have offered our teams working on our South Gloucestershire Council contract an 8% pay increase for 2023 which, when combined with the similar pay increase agreed in 2022, delivers pay increases of 15 – 16.75% over 2 years. This was rejected by Unite the Trade Union, who are seeking a 15% increase for 2023 alone, which would deliver pay increases in excess of 22% over 2 years.
"Industrial action is the very last outcome we wanted to see and our goal is to reach an agreement that would bring this to an end. Our door is still open and we welcome further discussions with Unite.
"With just over 40% of our people in South Gloucestershire continuing to work, we are able to provide a limited collection service that prioritises collecting black bin waste and opening the larger Sort It centres. We’re also developing arrangements for recycling to cover the union’s proposed strike over the summer, such as some Sort It centres opening earlier with dedicated space for food waste and extra recycling. Unfortunately these won’t be as convenient as our normal weekly household collection service but they will allow householders to continue to recycle.
"We’d like to apologise to our residents in South Gloucestershire for the disruption from the strike action and thank them for their patience."