Council workers put strike action on hold after talks

Strike action by workers in Cardiff City Council’s Waste Services department has been put on hold following talks between the trade union Unite and the local authority

Last week members of the union voted overwhelmingly to take industrial action over claims of widespread bullying within the council’s waste services department and threatened six weeks of strike action starting from today.

A statement from the union said: “Following constructive talks between Unite and Cardiff City Council the planned strike action due to commence on Friday 22nd April has been suspended.

“The industrial action has been suspended for four weeks to allow time and space for both sides to resolve the outstanding issues.”

A spokesperson for Cardiff Council said: “Following positive discussions with Unite the Union, the Council has been notified that the proposed strike that was due to start tomorrow has been suspended for four weeks. During this time, further discussions will take place between both parties aimed at resolving this matter.”

Disruption

Union members had voted by a majority of 98% to take strike action which would have caused widespread disruption to refuse and recycling collections in Cardiff.

The union says it has been raising workers’ concerns over bullying for several months, but no firm action had been taken by the council to address their complaints.

A recent survey of Unite members working within Waste Services found that over 60 per cent of workers had either witnessed workplace bullying or had been bullied themselves.

Unite has also raised a number of other issues with the council stemming from the “bullying culture” including health and safety failings and misuse of agency labour.