Speculation private firms will be called in to collect rubbish

Five hours of talks yesterday between management and unions failed to resolve the Capital's four-week-old bins dispute.

Unions are now balloting their members on escalating the current work-to-rule into strike action across the council.

Depute council leader Steve Cardownie said meetings were being held today to discuss the council's next step, but he refused to comment on whether private contractors would be drafted in.

He said: "Our strategy was based on getting the trade unions round the negotiating table. It looked hopeful yesterday. However, there has been no resolution, the union has confirmed it is proceeding to a ballot and we have to discuss how to put in train contingency plans."

Staff are protesting at the council's plans to change the way they are paid as part of its "modernising pay" scheme. They say changes to bonuses will cost some staff up to 7,000 a year.

Mark Turley, director of services for communities, said: "We presented proposals including improved shift payment and modernisation of working practices that would avoid refuse workers and street cleaners losing substantial amounts of money.

"This proposal was in return for the trade union to call off the strike ballot and return to normal working immediately. They have refused to do this."

City leaders and union officials found themselves under fire from the Scottish Conservatives yesterday, who said the average Edinburgh household paid more than the rest of Scotland for litter collection – and deserved better for their money.

David McLetchie, the Tory MSP for Edinburgh Pentlands, said: "At the height of the tourist season, it is an embarrassment and a growing health hazard."

Meanwhile, binmen and council call centre staff have reported an increase in abuse from the public as anger grows about the state of the city's streets.

One binman, who did not want to be named, said the worst abuse he suffered so far came during work in Baberton, one of the worst-affected areas of the city.

"The guy was absolutely furious," he said. "His bin hadn't been collected for three weeks because we were told to focus on the city centre.

"The boy went absolutely mental at us. He said 'I'll rip your heid off'. He was shouting and swearing at us and being aggressive."

The council has confirmed that it has seen a big increase in abuse from customers since the bin dispute started as tension grows.

The council's head of environment Andrea McHugh said: "We understand the frustration felt by the public experiencing delays in bin collections.

"Our staff are helping as much as possible.

"It is unfortunate that we have seen a rise in instances of verbal abuse towards these staff. This is totally unacceptable – all of our staff deserve to be able to work without fear of abuse.

"Regrettably, we are unable to pinpoint individual collection days and times for the public because our normal scheduled routes are experiencing such delays."

MEASURING WASTE PROBLEM

Domestic waste wheelie bin weekly collections – some customers waiting for up to three weeks between collections.

Communal on street bins (collected two to three times a week) are one to two days behind schedule.

Garden waste fortnightly collection service is two to three collections behind schedule.

Plastics and Packaging banks are one to two days behind collection schedule and are beginning to show signs of increased contamination.

All Community Recycling Centres are said to be operating normally.