Bin men threaten all-out strike for Christmas time

Published on Tuesday 24 November 2009 08:39

UNION bosses today refused to rule out an all-out bin strike as it emerged the dispute is set to cost the city around an extra £200,000 over the festive period.

A document handed to the Evening News shows that council bosses are spending 227,000 on street cleaning in the city centre over Christmas, with a further 56,000 being spent on drafting in private contractors to tidy up after Hogmanay and cover staff holidays.

The total bill, which includes money paid to council staff and private contractors, compares to just 88,000 the local authority would have needed to find if its own workers and temporary recruits were carrying out the work.

The figures come as some bin men said they were ready to begin a full strike over Christmas in the hope of breaking the five-month deadlock.

Pressure is piling up on the council to reveal the cost of the dispute after sources said the final bill for bringing in private firms could reach 3 million.

One bin man, who did not want to be named, said as many as 80 per cent of his colleagues supported strike action.

He said: "We've got to try something different now. There's a lot of ill-feeling between the men and the supervisors. We're calling for a mass meeting to try and get a strike for Christmas and New Year."

Opposition councillor Andrew Burns, leader of the Labour group on the council, said the amount of money being spent on private contractors underlined the need to find a speedy solution.

He said: "This is obviously an indication that hiring private contractors is costing more than three times as much as it would just using the council's own staff.

"This underlines the absolute urgency of solving this dispute. We're five months in and it seems there's no political leadership to get it sorted."

Union leaders said a series of talks were scheduled to take place with the city council this week.

Sandy Smart, regional industrial organiser at Unite, said strike action remained an option but was not on the agenda in the "short term."

He said: "There are a number of discussions taking place this week. While we are extremely concerned about what's happening regarding the bin dispute, we have already balloted for industrial action.

"That option (to re-ballot for a full strike] is still available, but will not happen in the short term."

A council document leaked to the Evening News shows how city leaders hired private contractors to re-focus efforts away from the Old Town towards the Capital's shopping areas in the run-up to Christmas.

Mark Turley, director of services for communities, said: "We have offered our staff, on a number of occasions, the additional hours that we need for street cleaning when there are many more people in the city enjoying the festivities.

"This happens every year. The difference this year is there are not enough of them willing to work overtime because of the dispute."