Unite members who work for Countrystyle went on strike over what Unite claimed to be a “a below-inflation pay deal” and working conditions on 13 July, with action set to last until 7 August (see letsrecycle.com story).
On Wednesday, Sharon Graham, Unite’s general secretary, claimed: “The biggest obstacle to resolving this dispute is the ending of the job and finish provision for Countrystyle’s workers.”
However, Countrystyle says “at no time” has it sought to end job and finish. Instead, it claims a “reinterpretation” of job and finish is required “to reflect a modern approach to delivering a productive and quality outcome for Bexley residents.”
Countrystyle says job and finish is “currently interpreted” as an individual employee deciding when they have done enough work for the day. Under ‘group job and finish’, as proposed by the waste management company, crews will be asked to help each other out by collecting additional bins that may have been missed or not able to have been collected by another crew.
In a statement issued yesterday, Countrystyle said: “What could be more equal and fair than for all staff engaged in a group, doing what is reasonable to ensure that such a task is evenly and fairly allocated and that each member of such group helps deliver that group task?
“Countrystyle has also been consistent in stating that any employee will only be required to work the stated contractual hours for which they are paid.”
‘Industry standard provision’
Unite’s Ms Graham went on to say: “This industry standard provision, in place in Bexley for decades, makes the job bearable for staff. It is outrageous that Countrystyle is trying to scrap it. Ending it needs to come off the table or these strikes will continue with Unite’s full support.”
Countrystyle said it “wholly refutes” the suggestion that job and finish provision is an industry standard, as suggested by the union chief.
The waste management company says it acknowledges that job and finish “as interpreted by certain (but not all) staff employed on the Bexley Street Services Contract” has been in place since 2008, when the council first outsourced the contract to the private sector.
However, Countrystyle claims “only Union members benefit from their own interpretation”.
“All other staff (over 100 of those employed in total under the contract) have to work their contracted hours,” Countrystyle said in a statement. “It is Countrystyle’s view that this would be the reasonable expectation of any employee and, importantly, any resident of the London borough of Bexley.”
‘Punishing workers’
Unite’s regional officer for Bexley, Tabusam Ahmed, said this week: “Workers at the depot already help during absences, missed collections and breakdowns.
It is not a punishment to require staff employed on the Bexley Street Services contract to deliver services in a safe, high quality and courteous manner
– Stuart Butler-Gallie, compliance director at Countrystyle Recycling
“The efficiency savings generated by formalising group and task finish will be absolutely minimal – this is about punishing workers because they asked for a cost of living pay rise.”
In response, Stuart Butler-Gallie, Countrystyle’s compliance director said he considered the use of the term ‘punishment’ “entirely inappropriate”. He added: “The 8% pay rise on offer for 2022, taken together with the pay parity awarded to all staff in October 2021, is very fair in the current environment.
“It is not a punishment to require staff employed on the Bexley Street Services contract to deliver those services in a safe, high quality and courteous manner for the residents that we serve.”
Mr Butler-Gallie also said so-called ‘Single Status workers’ at Bexley, who are required to work 36 hours but paid for 42, are “specifically contractually entitled not to collect their own missed bins”.
He added that Single Status employees would be paid overtime for any period over an hour where a refuse collection vehicle is impacted by a breakdown, while there were no circumstances that he was aware of where “help” was specifically provided during staff absences.
Bexley
The number of people involved in the industrial action is unclear: Unite claims more than 100 workers, responsible for loading and driving bin lorries, have gone on strike; Countrystyle reports that 70 members of staff have “withdrawn their labour”.
With a population of nearly 250,000, the London borough of Bexley had a household waste recycling rate of 50% in the 2020/21 financial year.
Sittingbourne-based Countrystyle won a 10-year collections contract with Bexley in July 2021 (see letsrecycle.com story). This marked Countrystyle’s first move into domestic waste collections although it has worked directly in the local authority sector on HWRCs.
Countrystyle took over from outsourcing giants Serco, which also faced strikes during the course of its contract (see letsrecycle.com story).
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