Trade union criticises council’s handling of bin workers dispute

Alec Doyle, local democracy reporter

The Unite trade union has branded Wrexham Council’s handling of an industrial dispute with bin workers a ‘disgrace’.

The authority is facing months of strike action by around 100 members of its Streetscene team after announcing changes to their working patterns.

The changes would see bank holiday Monday bin collections changed to the Saturday following a bank holiday. They argue that makes Saturday working now compulsory and that employees will face disciplinary action if they do not attend.

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

Talks

Union representatives, council bosses and councillors convened a Joint Consultative Committee (JCC) on Wednesday for talks aimed at preventing industrial action. According to Cllr Marc Jones and Unite, a way forward was agreed.

But minutes after the meeting Wrexham Council issued a statement which sparked fierce criticism.

In it 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.

“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.”

‘Worry’

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “The way Wrexham County Borough Council has behaved throughout this dispute has been nothing short of a disgrace and this is no exception.

“Our members recognise that this will be a highly disruptive strike which will cause a lot of worry to residents. All they want is to have this resolved, but the council are promising one thing and doing another. It is unacceptable.”

Unite said that the consultation referenced in the council’s statement gave staff just five days to respond.

They also pointed to the additional £3,808,252 that Wrexham Council recently received from Welsh Government to fund waste services as a justification for abandoning the changes.

Addressing the outcome of the meeting Wrexham Council said: “The reported £3,808,252 additional funding for environmental services is ring-fenced to cover the costs of managing packaging waste and can include upgrading or expanding facilities, sorting and processing packaging waste and implementing technologies that improve material recovery rates and reduce contamination.

All local authorities must be able to demonstrate the grant was invested in improving recycling rates. Without clear evidence of this, there is likely to be financial sanctions applied against future annual allocations of said funding.

Resolution

“The statement released on Wednesday 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.”

Unite regional officer Jo Goodchild said: “This is a very easy dispute to solve, especially given that there is funding in place to avoid attacking our members’ pay and conditions.

“However, rather than working constructively with Unite to seek a resolution for both our members and the general public management at Wrexham County Borough Council have given the union false promises.

“The consequences of these failures are clear: residents will be left without bin collections for weeks, causing serious disruption. That responsibility lies squarely with the council, not our members. Unless the council puts forward a serious, acceptable proposal for our street scene team, strike action will go ahead — and the blame for the chaos will rest entirely with management.”