Bin dispute: 'They're on the verge of all-out industrial war'

Published on Saturday 25 July 2009 11:07

THE Capital's streets may be running with rubbish rather than blood, but the bin dispute is turning nasty.

The unions representing refuse collectors have been at loggerheads with the council for weeks over its modernisation plans. But the row now looks set to blow up into all-out industrial war.

To recap, the council is legally obliged to equalise pay between male and female employees, and it also wants to give binmen different hours and duties. Staff are understandably furious that this could cost them 7,000 in overtime and bonuses.

The stand-off came to a head on Thursday evening, when five hours of talks broke down.

The council did appear to have blinked, and offered new shift patterns and payments which it said would protect pay levels. But Unite either didn't agree or didn't trust the council and refused to halt its strike ballot.

That vote is due to end on 3 August and every sign suggests that the current work to rule, which has seen rubbish piling up across Edinburgh, will then become an all-out strike.

This would not just involve binmen but other Unite members too, including road workers and grave diggers.

But the escalation of the bins dispute actually began in the early hours of this morning.

Then, a small army of street cleaners went into action to clear the city centre for this weekend's Gathering. Crucially, they were not the council's staff but work for private companies.

Some residents will agree this was needed to keep the city clean. Others will wonder why it took an influx of 20,000 tourists to prompt such action – though the News understands private firms are also being lined up to take care of the city's everyday waste.

Some others will regard bringing in private firms as an aggressive move which makes an all-out strike more likely.

It certainly does raise the temperature in a row which has seen tensions rise, including threats by residents against binmen.

But it is hard to see what else the council could do, as it has a duty to keep the streets clean and hygienic – for visitors and, especially, for locals.

Since the start of the row, this newspaper has called on both sides to compromise. On the face of it, the council went some way towards doing that last week with its offer to guarantee pay levels.

If this damaging dispute is to end any time soon, the union needs to show a willingness to compromise too – by calling off its ballot and getting back around the negotiating table.