Bin men end strike in effort to keep jobs
October 9, 2009
BIN men in the Capital today announced an end to two-and-a-half years of industrial action – in order to stave off the threat of their jobs being privatised.
Trade union leaders today confirmed that workers have agreed to end the “work to rule” and overtime ban that was first started early in the summer in 2009 and has cost the city millions of pounds.
Staff have confirmed that they will accept the most recent offer made to them by council managers, which was originally rejected following a ballot.
The news is a boost to a joint trade union campaign opposing the city council’s controversial plans to outsource a series of “environmental services”, including refuse collection and street cleaning to private firm Enterprise.
The city has already used private contractors, which were brought in to help out during the dispute at a cost of more than £5 million. The council said it has been offset by “savings” such as not paying its own staff overtime.
The potential difficulty in persuading staff to accept the £45m of savings that were part of the “in-house” alternative to privatisation was seen as one of the main risks of the outsourcing proposal.
A joint letter to the council from the Unison, GMB and Unite unions today confirmed that members have voted “overwhelmingly” to back a statement agreeing to end the dispute and insisting they “recognise the need” for new work systems across the service, such as new bin collection routes.
Peter Hunter, regional organiser for Unison, which has fronted the joint union campaign, said: “They were worried about the prospect of large-scale redundancies with Enterprise.
“They have lost money so they’re not happy about that but they recognise that, in the current climate, their terms and pay are better protected by trying to work with management in making the service as efficient and effective as possible.”
Mr Hunter said that the workforce proving they were behind the in-house bids and the cuts that are part of it was a “critical” issue ahead of the vote on whether to outsource the services on November 24.
The Labour and Green groups last month voted to back the in-house alternative, while the SNP had indicated that it would also back it but agreed to a one-month delay in order to give its Liberal Democrat coalition partners to assess the information available.
If the SNP votes with the Labour and Green groups, the plan to outsource the services to the private sector will fail.
Councillor Andrew Burns, leader of the Labour group on the council, said: “There is no reason that I can see for any party that was even wavering to support the private sector bid when it comes back to council.”
However, council officials felt differently. Mark Turley, director of the services for communities department, said: “We welcome an end to the dispute.
“However, in order to make the service competitive, fundamental changes are required to productivity, working practices and working patterns and we have seen no commitment to making these changes.”
mblackley@edinburghnews.com
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Comments
There are 27 comments to this article
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blue moon
Friday, November 11, 2011 at 11:03 PMdoojas,well said!
Tintock Pete
Friday, November 11, 2011 at 07:04 PMYou'd be hard pushed to justify even the minimum wage for a binman.
doojas
Friday, November 11, 2011 at 06:57 PMmy apoligies keyeser soze.We have endured some horific things over the last two and a half years.Believe me when i say your bin men are anything but lazy .E.C.C. just like every employer must adhere to health and safety regulations and all that we have done over this period is work to those regs,we have in the past broke all these regs for job and finish which the council were quite happy to turn a blind eye.As a result of this the four years prior to the dispute we droped lorries from each section,we started with 12 lorries in each section and every year we lost one from each section this equated to 1 million saving each year.We now have 7 lorries per section and still have to cover the same and more of a workload as Edinburgh does not get smaller it gets larger,now you take that and then reduce the salery by £6,000 maybe just maybe you can see that this had to come to a head sometime.E.C.C. only went down the privatisation route because they would not listen to dumb council workers.Did you also know that Enterprise were £720 million in debt,they have been bought out for £500 million by a company called CI wich is a consortium of investors(5 or 6)this coupled with the interest they have to pay does not seem like a good deal for the city,i would like more people to look at the whole picture and not just the propaganda e.c.c.and evening news put out to the public.
blue moon
Friday, November 11, 2011 at 06:36 PM(17)keyser soze I have not opted to end this dispute now,the first i knew of this dispute ending was when i read it in todays paper!
Lord HawHaw
Friday, November 11, 2011 at 06:02 PMOn the subject of cash savings, has the council already noted that the in house teams have already saved millions on slashing wages on average of 6000 a year and all the other savings that went with it. Also the massive savings made by moving all staff on to monthly pay and out sourcing the processing of it.
Sally Longlegs
Friday, November 11, 2011 at 05:35 PMSo just how long does moderation take the EEN ? About as long as it takes to report accurate timely interesting news I think!
keyser soze
Friday, November 11, 2011 at 05:32 PMKeyser here, Doojas. Always a sign of a weak argument when you have to use foul language. Also ,your spelling is atrocious. I do expect some revelations when all is revealed under the FOI. Both sides are equally as bad in this dispute. You may be quite correct in your ascertion about shredding. Nothing about this council surprises anyone any more.
doojas
Friday, November 11, 2011 at 04:42 PMReading this article and finding once again keyeser soze and rugal waffling the usual s##t.You pair of pr##ks had your oppertunity at the public meeting last night to put your views accross to the sensible people of Edinburgh,and would probably have had great difficulty walking home,just for your information your so called council leaders made a complete fool of themselves,could not and would not answer any questions the public put forward to them.If you really want to see where all your hard earned council tax goes just watch this space because very soon the freedom of imformation will be comming out now the bin dispute is over.the council cannot hide behind that excuse now,then again the paperwork might have been shreded
Pedro83
Friday, November 11, 2011 at 04:27 PMMark Turley should check his facts and respond to this opportunity. The trade union statement also said "We believe the adoption of the in-house option could herald the start of a more positive future for Environmental Services. We understand the Council has plans for new types of dispute resolution such as mediation and we welcome that innovation. We understand the Council is moving towards new, more positive work relationships based on mutual respect and we welcome that. We recognise the need for new work systems across the services such as new refuse routes. We accept that and suggest that workforce participation in rote design may help to maximise efficiency. We understand the in-house plans provide for investment in traininglearning and renovation of depots. Again we welcome that."
RS here
Friday, November 11, 2011 at 04:11 PMBad and Poor reporting from the EN reporter.....The were not on Strike and it was no Industrial Action....they were doing what any other Public or Private sector worker has the right to do......Work to their Contract........................................... Its cheap Evening News journalism...desperate to sell papers ................. The CIty Reporter should check out his facts
keyser soze
Friday, November 11, 2011 at 04:02 PMBlue Moon..... That is your choice,however, the alternative is privatisation. Your choice. Could you also explain why you have ended the dispute at the time? Why not last year or next. Why now?
blue moon
Friday, November 11, 2011 at 03:43 PMIf they think i am signing a contract which reduces my wages by over £6000 a year they are sorely mistaken!
AlbertB
Friday, November 11, 2011 at 03:14 PMA bold step by the Unions that should be welcomed and built on. A worker and community coop is the way forward with every household having a share in the social enterprise. The council bosses do not want the service so let the workers recruit a new team to lead them.
Rugal
Friday, November 11, 2011 at 03:13 PMIt's going to be pretty funny when Cardowine stabs them in the back next year so he can save his deputy leader post.....remember the SNP have quite a track record when it comes to telling lies, promising to do one thing but in the end siding with their Liberal masters.......I feel sorry for the guys who turn up every day and put in a hard days work only to be let down by the street sweepers who do as little as possible, hide away down the back streets reading papers and eating pies.
Sally Longlegs
Friday, November 11, 2011 at 03:10 PMSo I'm being moderated for telling the truth! What is going on EEN ?
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