Residents of Wealden towns and villages such as Crowborough, Wadhurst and Frant are to endure at least another two weeks of not having refuse collected after binmen in the district extended their strike – despite being offered a 17 per cent pay increase and a £600 bonus.
Members of the GMB union, who work for refuse contractor Biffa, walked out on May 2 in a dispute over pay.
The strike was meant to last a fortnight, but last week the GMB union lengthened the strike until June 11 and have threatened to continue it after this date.
And the union warned the industrial action will continue past that date if the pay offer is not increased.
According to Wealden District Council, the authority is managing to make some collections due to not all of Biffa’s staff belonging to the striking union, but some 14,000 bins are still getting missed daily.
Head of Waste Management at the authority, Cllr Roy Galley, said: “I think it is particularly disappointing that we, or Biffa rather with our support, made a very generous offer to the staff, which the initial reaction seemed to be the GMB Union were very pleased about. But that has not been accepted and the strike situation continues.”
That pay offer can now be revealed as up to 17 per cent plus a £600.00 performance related bonus, which would see operators and loaders pay increase to £23,000, while drivers would see their pay increase to around £26,000 a year.
By comparison, nurses at the NHS have just been offered a three per cent pay rise for 2022.
The pay deal offered by Biffa was roundly refused by union members who have demanded an additional £2 an hour for drivers on top of the increase and an additional £2.60 for other staff members.
“I don’t feel the GMB union needs to justify anything apart from to its members, but the cost-of-living crisis and wage stagnation is the exact reason why low paid workers everywhere are standing up to say enough is enough…”
A spokesperson for Biffa said: “The Trade Union has rejected our enhanced offer which included above inflationary increases and pay parity with the other two councils in the East Sussex contract, which is disappointing.
“We are working hard to minimise any disruption to service while GMB members continue to strike.”
A spokesperson for the Council said the pay offer was accepted by the GMB union and its members in Hastings and Rother only a few months ago in February.
The spokesperson continued: “At that time, the GMB union regional organiser union described the settlement as a ‘whopping pay deal’ so it is difficult to understand why they are not now recommending acceptance of this same offer, which comes with an additional performance bonus, for the immediate benefit of their members doing the same jobs in the Wealden area.”
The Council also accused GMB representatives of claiming they will refuse to negotiate until ‘the rubbish piles up in the streets’.
Gary Palmer GMB Regional Organiser said he disputed the pay deal figures, saying that ‘the offer on the table is made up of direct increases to hourly rates and bonus payments, some parts of which might be consolidated into pay’.
When asked by the Times how the union could justify turning down such an increase for a taxpayer funded service during a cost-of-living crisis, Mr Palmer said: “I don’t feel the GMB union needs to justify anything apart from to its members, but the cost-of-living crisis and wage stagnation is the exact reason why low paid workers everywhere are standing up to say enough is enough and let’s end workers exploitation by greedy profit driven big businesses like Biffa.”
He added: “The GMB Union have made it clear to Biffa that we are happy to sit down and negotiate a settlement, and that in light of the current impasse between us the recent offer to intercede and conciliate by ACAS [the mediating group] is welcomed and that to avoid further miscommunication to Wealden Council we invite the council to sit in on these talks if they feel it would help to facilitate and end to the current dispute.
“Until then the strike will continue at the moment up to and beyond the current notice of the June 11.”
