Strikes to return at Sheffield HWRCs

Workers at Sheffields five household waste recycling centres (HWRCs) are set to go back on strike after proposals to end industrial action at the sites were rejected.

Strikes had been ongoing throughout May and June after it was announced that changes to operating hours intended to shave up to 487,000 per year from council budgets would result in redundancies for seven workers (see letsrecycle.com story).

Industrial action was called off in July after it had appeared that the GMB union, representing staff at the HWRCs, had struck a deal with Sheffield city council, its waste contractor Veolia Environmental Services and SOVA Recycling, which operates the sites, that would have resulted in only one redundancy (see letsrecycle.com story).

The deal offered by the council and the waste contractors would have seen operating hours at the site reduced by only 9%, but workers are still not happy with the terms being offered, claiming that fundamental changes to the proposals are needed and are planning to strike this weekend (September 1-2) until a further deal can be agreed.

Negotiation

Pete Davies, GMB regional officer, said: The contracts that SOVA have tabled are under negotiation but we have not agreed them yet as there are some fundamental changes required, some elements do not even meet current statutory requirements.

Three workers were taken back on but given the severe shortage in manpower since the return to work (another worker has also been recruited on top of this) it goes without saying that their job cuts were simply too severe. It should also be noted that the worker who has been recruited, surplus to the 3, has been offered a casual contract guaranteeing ‘No hours’.

GMB will do all that we can to seek a resolution to this dispute but we are here first and foremost to defend our members and support their campaign and fight for fairness and justice and I make no apologies for that.

The GMB also claims that larger queues caused by the reduced opening hours to the HWRCs could result in an increase in the number of accidents around the sites.

Cuts

Sheffield city council has apologised to residents for the inconvenience that is likely to be caused by the strikes but said that the cuts in its budget could not be avoided due to reductions in government spending.

Councillor Jack Scott, Sheffield city councils cabinet member for the environment, recycling and streetscene, said: We have worked with the employers at the sites, SOVA Recycling, and with Veolia Environmental Services and we are continuing to try to find a solution to this dispute by talking to the union representatives.

We have made a number of improvements to the service over the last few months that we thought would help to resolve this problem.

However, the basic problem is that Sheffield is facing massive government cuts. Of course, if there was an alternative to making this cut, we would take it, but the reality is that this is the consequence of such massive cuts.