DESPITE national pay awards being agreed bin strikes are set to continue in Warrington next week with the Unite Union seeking better terms and conditions for its members locally.
It comes following an appeal by Warrington Borough Council’s Chief Executive Prof. Steven Broomhead, calling on Unite to end the strike action.
Unite national officer, Clare Keogh said: “Unite’s ongoing local authority disputes will continue and the union will be giving our members rock solid support where they are fighting for improved terms and conditions at the local level. Unite has already secured multiple local wins for our members in different councils across England and Wales. We will continue to back our members 100% who are in dispute so we can build on these locals wins further.”
In a letter to United regional officer Brian Troake, Prof. Broomhead said: “I am writing as a follow-on to my letter of 27 October 2023, in which we re-iterated our continued commitment to meeting with UNITE, UNISON and GMB to talk about local issues.
“Significantly, I note that the national pay award has been settled today. We will now be making arrangements to implement the pay award as soon as possible.
“Given that the basis for your strike action was “the rates of pay for 2023/24 for all workers whose pay is based upon pay awards made by the NJC for Local Government Services”. Also, given the annual national pay award is now settled and that we have made a separate offer to discuss local issues, I am now calling on you to cancel your strike action that is due to commence on Wednesday 8 November, to prevent any further disruption to Warrington residents and businesses.”
Unite issued a third bin strike notice starting next week, for another two weeks up until November 20, accusing the council of a “lack of urgency” to resolve the dispute locally.
Warrington Worldwide has contacted both Unite and the Borough Council seking clarification on what “better terms and conditions” are being sought.
4 Comments
So the national dispute that has been the so called reason for the strike is a load of rubbish . It’s a local issue as I always believed, why didn’t the unite Union be more honest with the public straight away. The Labour run council are totally reasonable for this strike and should be more open about it instead of pedalling the national dispute thing as a dig at the government, that may of worked if people didn’t have access to news natiionally and seeing councils resolve the disputes. Time for a change locally
I don’t believe a word that this labour controlled council say.
They just talk garbage and blag Joe public
First rule when negotiating with Unions: 1) Don’t negotiate in public. 2) Never portray yourself as innocently blameless. 3) Always give the other side a means of respectably saving face. 4) If you have made a mistake in the discussions admit it.
These folk do a job that most folk wouldn’t do, they contribute to public health and work in all weathers In the 20 years+ I have lived in Warrington they have provided excellent service. They deserve out support for a decent increase. You only have to experience the poor service at Gatewarth to realise what will happen if the service gets outsourced.