Council calls in private firm to clear streets

Published on Saturday 25 July 2009 11:07

AN ARMY of private contractors today went to work to clear the city's streets as Edinburgh's bin dispute escalated. The Capital is expecting up to 20,000 visitors for the Gathering this weekend, as part of the city's Homecoming Scotland events.

Council bosses said they were left with no choice but to turn to the private sector after staff refused to break their work-to-rule by working overtime. The clear-up began at first light.

Unions said using private workers would only increase industrial unrest, as each side blamed the other for walking away from talks this week.

The council was also accused of delivering a "slap in the face" for city residents by waiting until tourists arrived for the Gathering before calling in the contractors to deal with the fallout of a dispute that began last month.

Thirty extra staff have been brought in from the private sector to make sure Princes Street and the Royal Mile stay clear of rubbish during the weekend, while council staff on normal duty focus on other parts of the city.

The council said the cost of hiring private contractors equalled what it would have paid its own staff for working overtime.

Mark Turley, director of the council's Services for Communities department, said: "When there is a large influx of extra people into the city we routinely carry out extra work in response to this. Not only do we do this so the areas are presented at their best, but it is important for hygiene and safety reasons, too. Normally this work would be carried out by council staff doing overtime."

Council chiefs would not comment on whether the arrangement would continue, but said contingency measures were now in place should rubbish collectors vote in favour of an all-out strike.

The Evening News understands private contractors are also lined up to carry out further work to help bin men help clear the backlog of overflowing residential bins.

Union officials are currently balloting members amid anger at pay proposals that workers say will see them lose thousands of pounds in bonus payments.

Lothians MSP George Foulkes said the council had handled the dispute "appallingly" and accused city leaders of overlooking their own residents.

He said: "This is a real slap in the face to residents across Edinburgh who have seen their household waste pile up for weeks.

"The council have handled this appallingly, with no real sense of urgency and no serious regard for the health and safety issues it poses. It's high time councillors like Steve Cardownie and Jenny Dawe resolved this matter."

Stephen MacGregor, convener with the Unite union for the council, said: "This dispute does not just affect refuse workers but other large groups of workers who are set to lose thousands. Unite have offered a week-long set of negotiations before the ballot ends, to try and resolve the issue, but had no formal acceptance from the council.

"In yesterday's Evening News Mark Turley said the proposals avoided refuse workers and street cleansers losing substantial amounts of money. Perhaps when you are on 120,000 a sum of between 4,000 and 6,000 does not seem substantial – but it is.

"If the numbers of private contractors being brought in increases it will only result in more industrial unrest."