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 union members have said that SITA has gone back on its promise of a new pay deal which would have removed a two-tier wage structure.
Most of the workers are members of the Transport and General Workers' Union (T&G;) which said that it had been in talks with SITA since the company was awarded the contract.
Union members say that they will start the strike on August 24 and will strike every Friday and Monday until their claims are met. An overtime ban is also being imposed which means that no rubbish will be collected until after the Bank Holiday weekend which could lead to a pile-up of rubbish on the streets.
The Union said that talks broke down when SITA said there was not enough money in the contract for a pay increase. But added that they hoped to resolve the dispute and prevent the disruption of services.
Angry
A spokesman for T&G; said: “Over 180 staff employed by SITA are angry with their employer who has broken an agreement and not met to discuss this and an outstanding pay claim since June. The trade unions had a local agreement which achieved equal pay from August 1 and this would have removed a two-tier wage structure which had developed due to an unwillingness by the company to finance local government services, in this case street cleaning and refuse collection.
“SITA is part of the largest municipal services in Europe and the trade unions do not accept that they cannot afford to honour this agreement in Bristol.”
Ian Crawford of the Transport and General Workers' Union said that the union is campaigning nationally to abolish these two-tier wage structures where employees working shoulder-to-shoulder are paid different rates for doing the same job.
SITA spokeswoman Nicola Dowlen said: “We have received official notice from the Union of their intention to strike. But we don't want this happen and will do our best to work around this. Further talks with the Union will probably take place.”
A council spokesman said: “Council officials are meeting with senior management from SITA to find out the latest situation. A meeting was held yesterday and they are meeting again on Monday. But the dispute is between SITA and its workforce and we are hopeful that they will be able to reach a settlement so that services won't be disrupted. We will be doing everything within our powers to ensure that this is the case.”
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