Council continues to take legal advice over bin strike as Tories slam Labour’s failure to stand up to UNITE Union

OPPOSITION Tories on Warrington Borough Council have slammed Labour’s failure to stand up to the UNITE Union over the ongoing bin strike and are urging a legal challenge in court.

It follows UNITE’s indication last Friday of their intention to continue strike action until at least early December despite the resolution and agreement of the national pay dispute which the initial strike action and ballot related to.

The Tories are now urging Labour to utilise legislation and go to the Courts to challenge UNITE over the legitimacy of the ongoing strike action which is causing massive inconvenience to Warrington’s residents.

Conservative Deputy Leader Mark Jervis said: “Labour should stop dithering and stand up for the residents of Warrington.
“Given the national agreement, the UNITE Union no longer have a valid and legal mandate for strike action here in Warrington
“I recognise that there may be some ongoing discussions on local matters but the strike mandate did not relate to these matters.
“In order to bring this illegal strike action to an immediate end, Labour should challenge UNITE in the Courts without any further delay.
“If they fail to take this course of action, residents will conclude that Labour Councillors are weak and more interested in protecting their Union electoral paymasters than they are in protecting vital services for the people of Warrington.”

A council spokesperson said “We have taken and followed legal advice at all stages since the beginning of the dispute, particularly in terms of the impact of the national local government pay award for 2023-24 being agreed and Unite continuing to take strike action locally.
“We continue to receive and act upon legal advice, and therefore cannot comment further at this point.”

Bin strike extended into festive season as Unite Union accuse council of “dither and delay”