Bexley bin staff to go on strike for two weeks
Refuse collectors in Bexley borough are to go on strike for two weeks after a new outsourcing company Countrystyle hits trouble with staff months after taking over from Serco.
The dispute is set to see workers walk off from 12th July.
Two issues are at play in the dispute. One is that workers could formerly head home when finishing their rounds. The Unite union claims workers are no longer allowed to do so.
Another is pay rises with inflation at 40 year highs. Unite are seeking a payrise in line with RPI inflation. Staff are being offered two per cent.
It’s only a few months since strikes with the previously outsourcing company used by Bexley Council. Serco were replaced with CountryStyle in 2021.
Bexley have long had fortnightly collections and charged for waste containers. Earlier today it was revealed Greenwich will move some refuse collections to fortnightly, but not all. Greenwich have not outsourced their refuse collection service.
They have however been moving to outsourcing in some areas, including town centre enforcement staff which sees a private company retain the vast bulk of any fines issued.
They also outsourced car parking enforcement in places to Wing Security which saw the private company retain all revenue from fines. Much income was potentially lost. That has now been brought back in-house.
UPDATE: Bexley Council have issued a brief statement that can be seen here.
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I live in Bexley, and every time the bins are supposed to be collected there’s an issue of some sort. Either the collectors don’t come on the right day, or if they do, they don’t always empty the bins. Or, what happens most of the time, they empty them and then don’t put them back where they came from, leaving the pavements blocked for wheelchair and pushchair users. They reason they do this, presumably, is so that they can finish the round early and scuttle off home again. If they want a pay rise they should do the job they’re already paid to do first.
Quality of work aside (should be addressed in business as usual service quality monitoring), a 2% pay offer is a 9% pay cut so what do people expect the workers to do? I looks like there are labour relations issues that should be addressed with a root and branch review and recommendations made then acted upon.