The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain
Week commencing 2nd February 2024
The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain
Week commencing 2nd February 2024
The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain
First in South Tyneside: In a long-running dispute, the local council has resorted to supplying skips for uncollected rubbish that has built up during an on–off strike which began in early November.
One of the causes of the dispute was that, incredibly, some workers were disciplined for helping residents, which is firmly against council rules. More than 80 per cent of the refuse workers are, or have recently been, on formal warnings. According to their union, GMB, their offences include helping an elderly woman with dementia find her way back to her home, and for carrying a wheelie bin back up steep front steps for a disabled resident.
After these grievances were lodged in June an independent investigation was commissioned by the council in September, but no action was taken, thus the binmen voted solidly for strike action.
GMB organiser Mark Wilson commented: “The way these lads have been treated by South Tyneside Council is a disgrace. To get a warning for showing common decency by helping elderly and disabled people is sickening. The time has come to say enough is enough, the bullying tactics have to be put in the bin. After years of promising and failing to tackle the toxic culture in the yard we have had no choice but to take strike action.”
Across the country refuse workers employed by Cheshire West Recycling have secured pay rises ranging from seven to 11.8 per cent after 170 workers belonging to Unite voted for strike action. This caused bosses to cough up an improved deal of £1.25 extra per hour, backdated to last April. The deal also includes an extra two days of annual leave and a guarantee of a future RPI-related increase.
The union’s regional officer Samantha Marshall said: “The determination of Unite’s members ensured Cheshire West Recycling returned to the negotiating table and made a pay offer that met their aspirations.”
Doing well, but not entirely so, are the more than 100 Huddersfield refuse and recycling workers employed by Suez who secured a 10 per cent rise. Again, the deal was secured by more than 100 workers voting for strike action. The resulting deal is a 10 per cent rise for 2023, again backdated to April 2023, and an RPI inflation rise from April 2024.
Unite regional officer Karl Stephenson correctly observed that: “The unity that our members have demonstrated ensured that Suez returned to the negotiating table and made a pay offer that met their aspirations.”
Alas, further south, in Cardiff, things are more like events at South Tyneside. Strike action in the city’s council’s refuse and recycling department that started on 28th December was originally due to end on the last Thursday of January but will now continue until the third week of February. As in South Tyneside, the dispute is not about pay but the council’s failure to address issues such as a widespread bullying culture within the refuse and recycling department and the use of agency labour.
The council has largely ignored union complaints and has announced it attack the annual leave accrual of striking workers.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham demanded that: “The council’s priority should be dealing with the bullying culture within the refuse and recycling department and ending the practice of workers waiting four years for a permanent employment contract.”
The present action is the 14th week of industrial action since last September.
The union’s Wales regional secretary, Peter Hughes, added that: “Cardiff residents are facing rising council tax bills and reductions in their services whilst the council leadership seem intent on doing nothing to resolve this strike. [Council Leader] Huw Thomas’ inaction means the council is paying out a fortune in overtime pay whilst residents streets pile up with rubbish.”
These are four separate disputes, involving both direct and contracted-out bosses. Refuse workers could become the new vanguard of the working class. Just a few missed collections make it apparent just how vital decently paid council workers are to the wider public.