SITA workers threatened to strike over the bank holiday weekend but the action was called off yesterday when workers voted by 95-93 to accept an offer from SITA.
SITA was awarded the 75 million seven-year contract to carry out waste management and recycling services for Bristol City Council in May. The contract started on 1 August, but a dispute arose when union members said that SITA went back on its promise of a new pay deal which would have removed a two-tier wage structure.
Earlier this week, SITA workers rejected the company’s pay offer of a 2.5% increase but a revised offer, made on Wednesday, which removes the two-tier wage structure saw the union accept the deal. The workforce was originally seeking a 5% pay rise from August 1.
Nicola Dowlen, a spokeswoman for SITA, said: “We put a revised offer on the table on Wednesday night which was accepted by the workforce yesterday. We are pleased that an agreement has been reached with the union and the workforce to avert strike action in the city.“
Most of the workers are members of the Transport and General Workers' Union and T&G; spokesman Ian Crawford said: “The unions have achieved a victory against SITA and forced the company under threat of strike action to honour last year’s harmonisation agreement. This means all workers doing the same job will receive the same terms and conditions of employment.”
The other labour dispute continues. SITA sub-contracts its recycling service in Bristol to Resourcesaver, which is owned by Avon Friends of the Earth. Last week Unison, which represents Resourcesaver's workforce, warned that kerbside recycling in Bristol is at risk as Resourcesaver said that due to an industrial relations dispute over working hours it was unable to sign the new sub-contract with SITA. A temporary extension to Resourcesaver’s current contract, which expired on July 30, has been given to the end of August and talks are currently taking place between Resourcesaver and the workforce to try and resolve the situation.
Charlie McCaulder, Resourcesaver’s general manager said last night that a meeting was due to take place with the union. Chris Howe, of Unison, added that negotiations were “on-going”.
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