Bin strike set to continue as MP slams Union over “unlawful” action

WARRINGTON South MP has slammed the Unite Union after their bin strike negotiations with Warrington Borough Council once again broke down after verbal agreements had been made over returning to work.

At a meeting of the council’s Extraordinary Corporate Joint Consultative Committee meeting yesterday, Wednesday, it was thought an agreement had been reached “in principle” with the Union planning to ballot members on a return to work, once the agreement had been received in writing.

But on receipt of the letter the Union said it “fell short of expectations” and accused the council of “dithering” preventing the ballot and members being able to return to work and clear the backlog of bin collections.

Responding to Unite’s refusal to end the refuse strike in Warrington Mr Carter said: “The Unite Union is now acting outside their mandate, the national pay negotiations have ended, agreement has been reached through a collective bargaining process, the refuse collectors should come back to work.
“If there are further items to be discussed then there is a negotiation process which is open to the Unions to access, including ACAS. The regional shop stewards can’t simply add issues in at a local level to a national pay ballot, it’s not legal and it should end immediately.
“Local residents expect a proper refuse collection service, council tax payers have paid for it. If the Unions won’t play properly then the Council should bring in private contractors and clear the rubbish that’s now beginning to pile up.
“It’s time the Labour Councillors stood up to the Union and took action, through the Courts, to end this situation. Sadly we know they won’t because these now unlawful strikes are being directed from the Unite Union that provide cash to the Labour Party, that fund their election campaigns.”

In a letter to Cllrs. the Unite wrote that after five weeks of industrial action, the borough council had acknowledged they had the power to end the dispute and had a positive meeting with the council’s Chief Executive Steven Broomhead about members’ concerns yesterday, Wednesday.
The letter went on to say: “As we felt we an agreement had been reached in principle, we offered to ballot our members over pausing the industrial action, returning to work today, Thursday, November 9. This was of course conditional on receipt of a written agreement from Warrington Borough Council.
“Disappointingly, the written agreement we received fell short of the expectations we felt had been agreed in principle at the Extraordinary JCC meeting, and so we have been unable to ballot our members. This has prevented our members from returning to work to clear the backlog.
“Local residents along with our members are continuing to suffer hardship due to Warrington Borough Council’s delays in resolving this matter. However, our members continue to receive amazing support from the local community and remain determined to fight for better jobs, pay and conditions.
“These key workers could be back doing their jobs today, yet because of the council’s dithering, they are not.
“We ask you to add your voice to ours and call on the relevant decision makers across Warrington Borough Council to now make immediate progress so our members can return to work.”

Providing an update on the “constructive meeting” in a letter Prof. Broomhead said the national pay dispute had been agreed and local matters were discussed, including Christmas working arrangements, a potential laundry allowance, job evaluations and use of agency workers. The council said they would consider all the items but Unite then raised an additional point and requested a non-consolidated resolution with a “one-off” payment in order to postpone further industrial action.
It was agreed to consider this in context of “affordability, legality, equal pay legislation and its impact on other employees within the council”.
He said Unite had responded saying it was “woolly” and they were not prepared to postpone the industrial action.
Prof Broomhead went on to say the council had re-engaged with Unite in order to make progress and was “heading in a much better direction.”
On a parallel basis, the council was also seeking ACAS and legal advice on the validity of the current industrial action.