Rubbish collections cancelled as bin men strike over suspension of colleague

[dutchman]

There will be no rubbish collections in Coventry today after bin men walked out in protest following the suspension of a colleague by Coventry City Council .



About 30 refuse collectors descended on the Council House this morning after downing tools at their Whitley base following disciplinary action being taken against a union representative on Friday afternoon.

The unofficial strike action means there will be no bin collections today, and union representatives today told the Telegraph they were prepared to continue the strike as long as possible.

With the vast majority of bin collection staff in the city members of the union Unite, it is unlikely rubbish collections will be able to resume until the dispute is resolved.

Members have not been officially balloted over the industrial action, but Unite officials said that was expected to happen soon.

Union members say their colleague has been treated unfairly following a row with management about a poster produced in support of two other colleagues who are currently going through a grievance procedure.

Mick Shortland, corporate representative for Unite, said: “Management seem to have taken offence to a notice put up to remind people about another demonstration, it doesn’t mention any individual - it was a statement to say we will not accept bullying.

“Our colleague has the full support of members and we believe it is completely over the top. We ask the council to lift the suspension.”
He added: “Unfortunately there will be no bin collections, it’s not action we wish to take, but we’ll keep going as long as necessary.

“We are not going to allow union representatives who talk on our behalf to be singled out for expressing views that the majority of people believe.”

Union officials are set to meet with council management today in a bid to try and resolve the dispute.

A spokesman for Coventry City Council said: “Our bin crews will not be collecting today after they decided to take unofficial strike action.

“We apologise for any inconvenience this causes. The council does not recognise unofficial action of this kind and will be meeting with union representatives as soon as possible to try and resolve the situation.

“In the meantime, residents due a collection today are asked to leave their bins out. If they aren’t collected today, people need to take them back in and they will be collected on the next scheduled collection day.”

[rebbonk]

...union representatives today told the Telegraph they were prepared to continue the strike as long as possible.

I sincerely hope that those words were not used.

[dutchman]

I'm not in need of a collection myself this week but there are communal bins parked nearby and if they're not emptied regularly the rubbish soon spreads out across the whole estate.

[rebbonk]

We don't create much waste, we can easily go three weeks between emptying.

Those with bigger families might not be as fortunate and over-spills of refuge soon attract vermin.

[dutchman]

Bin men return to work after protest - but more strike action threatened



Coventry's bin men have “reluctantly” returned to work after a dispute with the council over a suspended colleague - but they have warned more strikes could follow.

The 100-strong workforce met with Coventry council officials in Whitley this morning before deciding to end the unofficial strike action and go out on collection rounds.

But union bosses say they now plan to hold an official vote on whether to take official strike action, which could mean further missed bin collections before the end of the month.

Mick Shortland, corporate representative for Unite, said: “They have reluctantly returned to work after management came in to remind them that it was unofficial action.

“They’ve returned to work subject to a ballot that will be put in place, that will possibly take up to two weeks minimum.”

The refuse collectors were not paid for the time spent on unofficial strike, which saw about 30 bin men protest outside the Council House.

Mr Shortland added: “If the local authority thinks they’re going to isolate our colleague and that he won’t have the support of this union, they are sadly mistaken.

“We believe our compromise, put forward yesterday, would have allowed him to return to work at another location - but that was turned down.

“Hopefully the action sent a message. We were fully aware it was unofficial action, but the feeling was that strong in the workforce we felt we had no alternative to get our message over.

“Our concern is this will be dragged out for a long time by the council. We want to see a commitment for an investigation to be carried out as soon as possible and a fair process.”

More than 30,000 homes in the south east of the city were left with full bins on Tuesday and about a quarter of the city’s population were affected in areas such as Binley, Willenhall, Stoke, Cheylesmore and Ernesford Grange.

Council officials have confirmed uncollected bins from Tuesday will not be picked up until next week and have asked residents to take them back inside until the next collection.

Collections today are expected to go ahead as normal, although they could be slightly behind schedule.