Council urged to keep talking to bin workers over strike action

Alec Doyle, local democracy reporter

Plaid Cymru councillors have demanded that Wrexham Council starts negotiating in good faith with unions representing bin workers, who have a mandate to take strike action.

Plaid Cymru councillor Marc Jones claims constructive talks were held between the council, waste service management and trade unions at a Joint Consultative Committee (JCC) meeting on Wednesday, August 20.

The discussions centred around new Streetscene working patterns introduced by Wrexham Council, with bank holiday Monday bin collections changed to the Saturday following a bank holiday.

Disciplinary action

Unite claim this was done without consultation and means Saturday working is now compulsory. The union also says employees will face disciplinary action if they do not attend – previously weekend overtime was voluntary.

The changes will also see Streetscene operatives lose half-a-day’s pay every bank holiday, saving Wrexham Council an estimated £100,000.

Members of the Unite union from the Streetscene team balloted for strike action and around 100 workers will strike for several days from this Saturday. There will also be an overtime ban in place.

But Cllr Jones said the JCC meeting reached a position were strike action could potentially be avoided altogether – until a council statement he branded ‘blunt’ was released 20 minutes after the meeting.

De-escalate

“The meeting was lively and honest,” he said. “At the end of that debate, I supported a motion calling for the council to continue dialogue with the unions involved on the current terms and to avoid the need for industrial action in the coming week or so.

“It was unanimously agreed that this was a way forward. The opportunity was there to de-escalate the tension and to find a solution.

“So it’s inconceivable that a blunt statement – which must have been pre-prepared to have gone out so quickly after this important meeting – was made public trying to blame workers for the situation and escalating bad feeling further.”

In the statement released on Wednesday, Wrexham Council Interim Chief Executive Alwyn Jones said: “Wrexham Council are disappointed that Unite are progressing with this action. Streetscene remains an important service that is delivered to the public and over the years significant support has been put in place to develop this part of the workforce.

“Due to the difficult financial position that we in Wrexham face and all public services in Wales continue to face, we look at all areas of the council to see where efficiencies can be made. This is one of many changes that have been implemented in the last 12 months to achieve an efficiency and to maintain a balanced financial position for the council and to protect services to the public

“The movement of working from a bank holiday Monday to a Saturday was consulted upon and only 19 responses were received out of a workforce of 245 that disagreed with the changes. This particular saving will reduce our current costs by £100,000 and has gone through the Council’s processes and committee cycles and consultation processes.”

Good faith

Cllr Jones said Wrexham Council needed to start negotiating in good faith with unions representing bin workers, who have a mandate to take strike action every weekend starting on August 23 and ending on November 15.

“Bin workers are among the lowest paid workers on the council yet they do a vital job,” said Cllr Jones. “Clawing back hundreds of pounds from each worker isn’t the right way to make £100,000 savings when the Welsh Government has just awarded the council £3.8 million for its recycling work.”

In response Wrexham Council said: “The JCC made some recommendations which have been shared with council management in relation to ongoing discussion between the council and unions.

“The statement released was prepared prior to the meeting and not changed in the light of JCC discussions. The council remain in talks with union representatives to seek a resolution as all parties wish to avoid strike action.

“The council retains a commitment to work with union colleagues to seek a solution and believe that union colleagues remain in the same position.”