Furious binmen threaten action over £8,000 pay cut proposals

8:47am Monday 15th June 2009

By Andy Chiles

Residents of Brighton and Hove have been warned to prepare for a summer, autumn and winter of discontent.

The gloomy predictions follow the outbreak of a major row between Brighton and Hove City Council and its binmen and street cleaners – after it was revealed they were about to be asked to take a pay cut of between £2,000 and £8,000 a year each.

The dispute comes on top of a four others current underway between the council and its staff which have led to threats of strikes which will close schools and libraries and hit dozens of other services.

Union officials yesterday warned they feared they would not be able to rein in the angry response of refuse staff told their wages would be slashed and admitted wildcat strikes were likely.

Mark Turner, the GMB union branch secretary representing more than 3,000 workers in the city, said: "We are looking at weeks and possibly months of strikes here. It will be a sustained walkout.

"The way things are at the moment we are not just looking at a summer of discontent, we're looking at a summer of discontent, an autumn of discontent and a winter of discontent."

His view was echoed by Alex Knutson, the city's Unison branch secretary, who has described industrial relations at the city as being "the worst I've ever known them".

The two unions have only this week started a consultation with staff at faith schools who are set to walk out in a separate pay row.

The latest dispute reached a head after rumours of imminent cuts circulated at the council's Hollingdean refuse depot.

Workers discovered they would be the victims of pay restructuring across the authority.

The move is the result of the council having to make compensation handouts of around £37 million to unskilled staff from other departments earlier this year.

Those staff, many of them female, had made successful legal claims that they had been underpaid for years by comparison to binmen, who were also unskilled.

It is understood the council now wants to reduce the wages of refuse staff to protect it from any future claims. Parks staff are believed to also face significantly reduced salaries.

Cityclean staff believe their wages will be cut from the current rates, which average £19,000 a year, to be equivalent to teaching assistants, who earn less than £15,000.

One, who asked not to be named, said: "They don't seem to care that there are guys here with young families, who have mortgages to pay and other commitments. They haven't taken into account the nature of the work either, that we have to go out in all weather, come rain or shine."

The news has been particularly badly received because it coincides with the council's moves to recruit a new chief executive, who will earn up to £170,000 – more than ten times what the refuse workers will be asked to accept.

Any long-term summer strikes by the binmen will be particularly hard for the city to cope with. Piles of bin bags left for days or weeks in the heat could have a significant impact on both residents and visitors.

Refuse workers have shown they are not afraid to strike in the past, walking out last year after allegations one was branded fat and lazy by his managers and occupying the Hollingbury depot for four days in a dispute in 2001 which led to the end of a contract with waste firm Sita.

The council admitted it was preparing to propose a new pay scale structure to its 8,000 employees but would not confirm or deny any specific wage figures.

Unison is currently fighting two dismissals of long-serving council office workers who it said were wrongfully penalised for taking long-term sick leave.

Mr Knutson said the union's 3,600 members at the council would be balloted over industrial action if the sackings were not overturned.

Unison members will be staging a protest rally during its national rally at the Brighton Centre next week.

Both unions have also threatened action over the transfer of staff to a private company following proposals to contract out the council housing maintenance contract.

A strike by more than 200 faith school staff is expected to force one day closures at 16 schools before the end of the summer term.

Mr Knutson said: "It's just a nightmare at the moment. I've never known this council so chaotic."

Councillor Gill Mitchell, leader of the opposition Labour group, said: "I haven't got any details of this at present but if this is the case I would sympathise with any staff who are facing a pay cut.

"Relations between the Conservative administration and the unions seem to be at an all time low right now."

“It is our legal and moral responsibility to make sure all our staff are paid fairly for the work they do and we are making sure that people doing jobs rated as equivalent, across the council receive the same pay.

“We are shortly about to enter into what we hope will be an open, honest and constructive dialogue with the unions on the pay structures for various positions in the council.

“We always seek to settle any dispute with staff, whether in relation to sickness, pay and conditions, or any other matter, as fairly as possible in full consultation with union representatives.

“With regard to the specific issue of staff at faith schools, it is simply not within our power to meet the request of the unions to settle the faith school staff’s equal pay claims, as the governing body of the school is their employer and not the council.”