Council “dismay” as Leeds refuse workers reject deal

Leeds city council officials expressed their “dismay” at the decision by workers to vote against a revised pay deal, which the council claimed would have reduced pay losses for most staff under its proposed overhaul of refuse collection services from over £4,000 to £231 – if performance targets were met.

Over 300 of the city's 668 refuse workers originally voted to walk out at the start of September after unions claimed that they could see their wages cut from £18,000 to £13,000 under the council's initial pay review plans.

The local authority said that the changes are necessary because Leeds' refuse collection service is currently 20% less efficient than other councils' and, as a result, it says there is a need to introduce more efficient rounds and take action to improve staff attendance levels.

Crisis

Crisis talks were held earlier this month between the city council and the GMB and Unison unions, which represent the workers, as the industrial action hit both refuse and recycling collections and forced the closure of three household waste recycling centres (see letsrecycle.com story).

However, the talks failed to resolve the dispute, and, as a result of yesterday's vote, Leeds city council confirmed that the strike was likely to continue.

Councillor Richard Brett, leader of Leeds city council, said: “I simply do not understand why workers have rejected what was an excellent offer. With hard work we had found a way of addressing the pay gap for the majority of staff which was the primary reason given for the strike in the first place.

“Therefore, it's clear to me now that the dispute is no longer principally to do with money – it's about productivity and efficiency. The council made it clear that this offer was the only one on the table.”

The council's joint-leader, councillor Andrew Carter, echoed Cllr Brett's comments, expressing his “dismay” at the workers' decision to reject the offer.

However, GMB regional secretary Tim Roache, defended the result of the vote, claiming that the council's plans involved “unachievable” bin lift targets for collection crews and longer and harder working requirements.

He added: “The members rightly feel that the scheme will never deliver the money and that they will still be facing the substantial and unaffordable pay cuts.”