City leaders ready to hire private bin men for emergency cover

Published on Wednesday 14 April 2010 09:58

COUNCIL chiefs are set to recruit more private contractors to provide emergency cover while the city's bins dispute rumbles on.

They expect to spend tens of thousands of pounds using the private firms to cover for the city council's own staff when they refuse to work on public holidays as part of their work-to-rule.

The city council has formally advertised a contract for "emergency cover" for waste, recycling and street cleaning services.

It has also built a "safety net" by advertising the contract as being worth up to 20 million, in case the dispute escalates and the private teams are brought in full-time.

Part of the discussions with contractors will include whether a "retainer" needs to be paid to allow the firm to be on standby. It would be expected that any retainer fee would result in the cost being lower when firms are called into action. The agreement is to be in place for three years – sparking fears that the bin dispute, which has now raged on for almost ten months, will never be resolved.

Councillor Andrew Burns, leader of the Labour group on the city council, said: "The whole situation is becoming a bit of a farce. They should be concentrating their energy and any money on resolving the dispute.

"To spend money on a private contractor to be a back-up seems totally bizarre to me.

"I am quite stunned that they have gone for such a lengthy time period for the cover and it underlines there is no real desire to have this resolved. I have no doubt staff will be dismayed by this."

The council currently spends around 15m a year collecting Edinburgh's rubbish – more than any other comparable Scottish local authority.

The Evening News revealed last month that private contractors had already cost the council a total of 5.4m before being stood down only a few weeks ago. It is thought that having a contract for private firms to be on standby will make them cheaper if needed.

Council officials have previously announced that they will invite private firms to "bid" for a contract to run refuse collection services as part of the council's "alternative business models" project.

But the emergency cover is being arranged separately and could see private contractors work on the city's streets during busy periods or if the dispute over new pay and conditions flares up.

Councillor Robert Aldridge, the city's environment leader, said: "It makes sense to formalise arrangements for contractors who could be called upon at any time to provide waste and street cleansing services if an emergency situation arises. We need to ensure we get the best possible deal for the council taxpayer."

Councillor Iain Whyte, leader of the Conservative group on the council, said that refuse collection should be market tested, adding: "Instead of messing around trying to cover for deficiencies in the service, or for their industrial relations difficulties, why not try to find a better way to provide the service for the people of Edinburgh?"