Coventry city council told letsrecycle.com it was “disappointed” to have been informed by the union Unite of the prospect of their action continuing beyond 23 March.
The 70 HGV drivers, each of whom is a member of Unite, have been on strike since 31 January due to a dispute over low pay.
The workers’ basic rate of pay begins at £22,183 per annum, which Unite says is “far below what workers receive in the private sector and well below pay rates of neighbouring councils”.
The current strikes are due to end on 24 March, but the workers could vote for the industrial action to continue through the spring, including during the local elections in May.
The ballot to renew strike action opens on 7 March and closes on 14 March.
Sharon Graham, Unite’s general secretary, said: “Our members are simply seeking a fair day’s pay, but the Labour council continues to make excuses about why it can’t pay the rate for the job.
“Coventry council should stop wasting council taxpayers’ money and pay our members a fair wage.
“They could do that now and get the drivers back to work – but if they refuse to pay the rate for the job, as neighbouring councils do, then this strike goes on.”
Dialogue
A spokesperson for the city council said they had been in dialogue with Unite for several months in an attempt to resolve the issues raised “lawfully”.
They said: “During this time, we have made what we believe are generous offers to resolve the issues around pay, but they are not accepting these or coming back to us with counter proposals.”
Both parties will meet with the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) tomorrow (5 March) to conclude an independent evaluation of the current HGV driver job role.
Each party has agreed to be bound by the pay grade that results from the evaluation, Coventry says.
The spokesperson added: “Our HGV drivers compare favourably with similar HGV drivers across the region, and we have offered to raise the starting salary to make Coventry driver pay even more competitive – offers Unite have rejected.”
Temporary drivers
Coventry has given local business Tom White Waste a short-term contract worth £2 million to carry out collections until 31 March while the strike remains ongoing (see letsrecycle.com story).
An arm’s length company now owned by the council, Coventry bought Tom White Waste using prudential borrowing in March 2020 (see letsrecycle.com story).
The council spokesperson said: “We are using contracted drivers drawn from across the country is a temporary solution to ensure residents can get a household waste collection every other week.
“And we will be looking at a range options, including extending this arrangement if drivers vote to continue all-out action.”
Coventry
Representing an estimated population of more than 430,000, Coventry city council had a household waste recycling rate of 34% in the 2020/21 financial year.
Coventry’s waste collections are carried out in-house by the council. When the strikes began, the council erected a series of ‘pop-up’ disposal points across the city (see letsrecycle.com story).
In early February, Unite’s Sharon Graham warned that her union’s financial support for the Labour Party was “under review” as result of the dispute.
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