Bin strikes loom in Bromley and Croydon

Refuse collection crews in Bromley and Croydon are to strike over pay after talks with employer Veolia Environmental Services were described as a farce by trade union Unite.

Veolia offered crews a 2.25% annual pay rise for two years as well as improved holiday and sickness entitlements during Tuesday (July 9)s talks through Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS), but this was rejected by union members.

Following the collapse of talks, Unite said it would now inform Veolia that crews in Bromley and Croydon will take part in a three day strike on July 22, 23 and 24 2013.

Veolia and Croydon council both said they were disappointed that Unite members rejected the enhanced offer.

A previous 2% pay rise offer made by Veolia and rejected earlier this month was described as paltry by Unite, which had been seeking a 4% pay increase (see letsrecycle.com story). Crews had balloted to strike from July 2-4 2013, but these were suspended pending the outcome of the ACAS talks.

Unite regional officer Onay Kasab told letsrecycle.com that Tuesdays talks with Veolia were little more than a ruse to disrupt industrial action as there was no way their offer was going to come anywhere near to settling the dispute.

He said: As one of our reps said, Veolia really need to show us the money. We have made clear that we are prepared to compromise we are willing to settle at RPI, which is 3.1%. They have been messing about they implied that it was worthwhile going to ACAS so we thought they had a serious offer to make us.

It is a farce they took a day out of everybodys jobs for nothing. We have shown that we are willing to talk by suspending strikes to discuss with them.

Crews

Mr Kasab said around 120 refuse workers belonging to Unite in Bromley and a similar number in Croydon were likely to take part in the strike action.

A spokeswoman for Veolia Environmental Services said: We were disappointed that this improved package was rejected outright at the meeting and believe nonetheless that it should now be put to all the employees concerned for their consideration as soon as possible.

Croydon councillor Phil Thomas, cabinet member for highways and environmental services, said his top priority was to limit disruption to residents refuse collection services.

He said: Were disappointed that the union representatives have turned down this enhanced pay offer. Veolias management are continuing to deal with the situation and our top priority remains that they ensure if the unions go through with their plan to disrupt the service any inconvenience to residents is kept to a minimum.

Collection crew members of Unite in Camden were also involved in Tuesdays talks and were made the same offer by Veolia, but Unite members in the borough have yet to announce a decision on the offer and have not held a full ballot on industrial action. However, an indicative ballot in the borough came out in favour of a strike, according to Mr Kasab.

West Wiltshire

Members of union GMB in West Wiltshires refuse collection crews took part in strike action this week (July 8) in a dispute over pay with employer FCC Environment (see letsrecycle.com story).

FCC Environment holds a contract worth around 2.2 million per year to operate the waste collection services in West Wiltshire, which covers the towns of Bradford on Avon, Melksham, Trowbridge, Warminster and Westbury and the surrounding rural areas.

According to GMB regional officer Carole Vallelly, more than 30 refuse workers were on the picket line on Monday and some members of FCC Environment management went out to load bins. However, she said the union had not been contacted by management since the strike.

She said: We are having a meeting with members on Friday morning (July 12) to discuss the next course of action and we are not ruling out the possibility of further strikes.