Somerset Council 'preparing' for planned bin strikes
Last week, the Unite union announced its members will be walking out from the 12th of July after unsuccessful negotiations with the contractor, Suez
Last updated 20th Jun 2024
Somerset Council say the county's waste services are preparing for 'planned industrial action' across the region later this month.
Last week, the Unite union announced its members will be walking out from the 12th of July after unsuccessful negotiations with the contractor, Suez.
An initial 5.8% increase has been rejected by the union and a recent ballot of Unite members was in favour of industrial action. A further offer of 8% from Suez has also been rejected.
If the industrial action goes ahead, it'll mean members will strike every Wednesday to Friday in the four weeks from 12 July to 4 August.
On the other days of the week staff taking action would not work overtime or be involved in catch-up collections, for example on Saturdays.
The local authority say talks are continuing to resolve the dispute, but contingency planning is now underway to help minimise the impact of the walkouts - if they indeed go ahead.
They also say industrial action 'is likely to cause widespread and significant disruption affecting the majority of residents in some way'.
Three-weekly refuse collections would be prioritised, along with clinical waste collections and collections from communal locations.
Recycling collections would be affected even more, with crews redeployed to support the other collections.
Some people could go 'multiple weeks' without recycling collections, and we don't yet know the extent to which garden waste collections would be impacted - if the walkouts go ahead.
The disruption will also extend beyond the days of industrial action as crews will need to pick up extra, accumulated waste when collections restart.
Mickey Green, Somerset Council’s Executive Director for Climate and Place, said: “Talks are ongoing and we very much hope that industrial action can be avoided or resolved quickly.
“We know cost of living pressures are affecting everyone, including waste collection crews, but this action would have a big impact on residents across the county.
“We will continue to support Suez as it works to resolve the dispute, assisting where we can.
“If action is taken, we will make as many collections as possible, but some services will have to be prioritised at the expense of others and we would ask for the public’s patience.”
The strikes are a part of a wider bout of action happening across the South West against Suez - including in South Gloucestershire.
In that region, 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."
If industrial action does take place, Somerset Council’s website will be the best place for the latest information about disruption.