Yesterday's Brighton binmen protest was "taste of things to come" warns union (From The Argus)
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Yesterday's Brighton binmen protest was "taste of things to come" warns union
10:11am Wednesday 29th July 2009 in News By Richard Gurner
The pay talks which sparked yesterday's massive rubbish truck protest through Brighton and Hove did not go well, according to the binmen's union.
Dozens of trucks jammed the streets in a protest over a pay row, which union bosses warned was a "taste of things to come".
Traffic was brought to a standstill on roads surrounding Brighton and Hove City Council's HQ in Grand Avenue, Hove, as binmen blasted their horns in protest at plans to slash their pay by up to £8,000 a year.
Union bosses, who met with council chiefs yesterday in a bid to thrash out an agreement, claimed talks had not gone well.
Mark Turner, Brighton and Hove branch secretary for the GMB union, said: "There is nothing concrete on the table and there is still the intention from the council to cut the salaries -- that's what they are intending to do.
Today was the first day."
Further talks have been scheduled for August 5 and then again at the end of the August.
Mr Turner said that if a resolution could not be reached, the council would offer workers new contracts with a reduced salary.
He said: "It will be take it or leave it.
As soon as they get to that point it will go to industrial action."
After their protest outside the council's Kings House, the binmen moved down the seafront to the Hilton Brighton Metropole hotel where they believed interviews were being held for the council's new chief executive.
The pay row centres on the council's efforts to create equality in its staff pay structure to prevent the possibility of legal action.
In March, almost 3,000 workers based at schools, libraries and other departments accepted cheques of up to £20,000.
The money was to compensate them for being underpaid by comparison to others, mostly binmen, who have similar skills but have been paid significantly more.
Then, in a move that has enraged workers and the union, the council drew up plans to sack workers at its CityClean and parks departments if the talks fail.
The Argus revealed earlier this month that it had seen the secret plan to terminate contracts of 821 workers if they refuse the pay cut of between £2,000 and £8,000.
Their jobs would be lost on January 1, 2010, unless they accept new lower wage deals.
Yesterday, residents woken by the noise from the binmen spoke of their support.
Rosanna Lowe, 36, a writer living in Second Avenue, Hove, said: "It is such an important job.
People don't like to know how their rubbish gets taken away or who has to deal with it."
However, among people posting on the Argus' messageboards yesterday, opinion was more split.
Someone posting as Stripes from Brighton said: "It's time for Brighton and Hove City Council to call their bluff.
"The attitude that they can't face disciplinary procedures because that would mean wild cat strikes and streets stacked up with rubbish, is unacceptable.
"Dismiss each and every one of them who decided to break the law today by blocking a public highway as well as unauthorised use of a work vehicle and I will be happy for the council to throw public money at an agency to replace them until the posts are recruited to. "
A council spokesman said: "We want to work closely with the unions to come to an agreement about how the council can meet its legal and moral obligation to pay all staff fairly.
"It is very important that we do a good job of communicating with our staff throughout this review and that is why we want to consult the unions at this early stage."
Asked if any staff would face disciplinary action because of the protest, he added the council did not comment on internal matters.
What do you think? Should the binmen face disciplinary action? Or was the protest justified?
Comments(28)
brightonneil
says...
10:27am Wed 29 Jul 09
Adur
says...
10:28am Wed 29 Jul 09
bopeep
says...
11:05am Wed 29 Jul 09
misscee
says...
11:30am Wed 29 Jul 09
Stripes
says...
12:09pm Wed 29 Jul 09
If that's true then there is not a better example of the mob mentality of this workforce and what a hard job its going to be to reason with them and their union.
Andy R
says...
12:09pm Wed 29 Jul 09
What with your job being so hard and theirs so easy.
Or is this just another message from Argus Have Your Say...the home of empty rhetoric?
salty_pete
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12:26pm Wed 29 Jul 09
Keith Standring
says...
12:40pm Wed 29 Jul 09
Any genuine disparity between the salaries of council employees with jobs of a similar value is the responsibility of the employer. Criticism should therefore be made of the employer for having failed to ensure that equal pay for work of equal value applied throughout the council employees as a whole.
Instead of provoking an understandable reaction by proposing to reduce the refuse collectors' salaries, one way of achieving true equality in pay would be to provide staged increases in the lower salaries, until equality is eventually reached with the refuse collectors. The refuse collectors should not have to pay for the mismanagement of their employer.
Given the horrendous effects of a dispute by the refuse collectors, we can only hope the current negotiations reach a mutually acceptable solution.
jyan
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1:03pm Wed 29 Jul 09
Granny
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1:06pm Wed 29 Jul 09
Fight Back
says...
1:27pm Wed 29 Jul 09
Dizd
says...
1:31pm Wed 29 Jul 09
bopeep wrote:Why assume every one that posts on here has jobs? Am assuming you have a pointless job too for posting here? Some people are bloody lucky they have jobs these days. I bet these bin men will be applying for overtime to clear up the back log and so get paid time and a half for a days strike?
There are a lot of nasty people posting comments here who have pointless jobs and do not do anything as important to this city as collecting rubbish, recycling and cleaning our street. We all notice when the binmen and women stop their work....yet no one notices when the bureaucrats stop work, or half the people posting on this board - why ? Because their jobs are just not as important.
Asbo
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2:54pm Wed 29 Jul 09
It appears Endingburgh and other councils are getting pushed into a corner too. One day the UK may have a government that is accountable to its taxpayers!
jondix
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5:31pm Wed 29 Jul 09
For Every Sprinkle I Find
says...
5:59pm Wed 29 Jul 09
bopeep wrote:The street will be just as littered without them. They are the MAIN CAUSE of litter strew around residential areas.
There are a lot of nasty people posting comments here who have pointless jobs and do not do anything as important to this city as collecting rubbish, recycling and cleaning our street. We all notice when the binmen and women stop their work....yet no one notices when the bureaucrats stop work, or half the people posting on this board - why ? Because their jobs are just not as important.
Go away, back to your comfy office. I would kill to get a job like theirs for a measly £6ph.
abinman
says...
6:04pm Wed 29 Jul 09
And also no we are not getting overtime and have to make up in our own time, which we want to do!! and we say thanks to our bosses for being understanding on issue.
From a well educated binman :=)
relaxed
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6:09pm Wed 29 Jul 09
abinman
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6:11pm Wed 29 Jul 09
abinman
says...
6:21pm Wed 29 Jul 09
So fire away!!
(perhaps i'm not a well educated binman ha ha)
Fao of relaxed, sorry about you gtting made redundant and in question of the 3 year protection, i'm not to sure if we will be getting that now, but if i hear differently i will let you know.
davyboy
says...
6:36pm Wed 29 Jul 09
relaxed wrote:the employers may be able to 'seek to change employees contracts', but surely only with the employees permission. if these contracts were freely negotiated by the unions and employers, they any changes must be done likewise. i cannot see why anyone should put up with having to lose up to £8k per year for doing the same job they have always done. cleansing departments perform crucial work to keep our towns and cities clean, and should be remunerated fairly for the jobs they do, in all weathers.
Well I'm not blasting the Refuse Collectors - they do an important job, just as the other local government workers do. Yes the Council does have contracts with their employers, but any employer can seek to change a contract. I should know - I've been made redundant three times - that's a pretty major change to a contract! Don't be fooled, these staff won't get their pay 'slashed' without receiving some pay protection -maybe for 3 or more years. They'll have plenty of time to seek a different job - maybe as a Teaching Assistant if they want to work in a warm and cosy environment and have 12 weeks holiday per annum - there are always plenty of vacancies. Don't see many Refuse Collector vacancies though - I wonder why.
stan bailey
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6:39pm Wed 29 Jul 09
davyboy wrote:Totally agree
relaxed wrote:the employers may be able to 'seek to change employees contracts', but surely only with the employees permission. if these contracts were freely negotiated by the unions and employers, they any changes must be done likewise. i cannot see why anyone should put up with having to lose up to £8k per year for doing the same job they have always done. cleansing departments perform crucial work to keep our towns and cities clean, and should be remunerated fairly for the jobs they do, in all weathers.
Well I'm not blasting the Refuse Collectors - they do an important job, just as the other local government workers do. Yes the Council does have contracts with their employers, but any employer can seek to change a contract. I should know - I've been made redundant three times - that's a pretty major change to a contract! Don't be fooled, these staff won't get their pay 'slashed' without receiving some pay protection -maybe for 3 or more years. They'll have plenty of time to seek a different job - maybe as a Teaching Assistant if they want to work in a warm and cosy environment and have 12 weeks holiday per annum - there are always plenty of vacancies. Don't see many Refuse Collector vacancies though - I wonder why.
alyn, southwick
says...
8:14pm Wed 29 Jul 09
For Every Sprinkle I Find wrote:I agree with you 'For every Sprinkle...', bin-men are the greatest cause of rubbish on our streets.
bopeep wrote: There are a lot of nasty people posting comments here who have pointless jobs and do not do anything as important to this city as collecting rubbish, recycling and cleaning our street. We all notice when the binmen and women stop their work....yet no one notices when the bureaucrats stop work, or half the people posting on this board - why ? Because their jobs are just not as important.The street will be just as littered without them. They are the MAIN CAUSE of litter strew around residential areas. Go away, back to your comfy office. I would kill to get a job like theirs for a measly £6ph.
I also agree with 'bopeep' rubbish collection is an important job, but i see no evidence to suggest current bin-men do it well.
Also it's because it's so important bin-men have been able to force their pay up over years, while dedicated carers and TA's who are more concerned with those they work for have had their pay kept low.
(Security word: Brute-Force)
By all means go on strike to protect your pay (as I've said elsewhere NO-ONE deserves a pay-cut), but do it so others don't suffer more than necessary and illegally, ie misuse of company property, breaching the peace and blocking public highways
Lord Bingham
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8:51pm Wed 29 Jul 09
Why should the city be disrupted by this sort of activity. Negotiate through the official channels, but don't do it like this. All involved should face disciplinary, and the ringleaders sacked. If the council's got the balls, that is...well within their rights to do so anyway.
Osama bin there
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8:57pm Wed 29 Jul 09
pw08
says...
11:14pm Wed 29 Jul 09
salty_pete wrote:Nothing to do with the EU (or supine MPs for that matter). The Equal Pay Act dates from 1970 - before Britain was a member of the EU - and the Single Status agreement on local government pay was signed in the last days of John Major's government in 1997 (strange how people want to blame the EU for everything but that's another subject).
This is an unintended consequence of an EU directive nodded through parliamnt by supine Nu-Labor MPs. I suspect someone has done the arithmetic in the council that it would be better to reduce the wages of the bin men than to increase the wages of all other non-skilled staff. So batten down the hatches for some serious disruption. And for an off the wall observation, could this issue have been the cause for the previous chief exec's resignation ?? When he was Director of Environment he brought City Clean back into the fold from an external contractor and maybe his conscience wouldn't allow him to side with this process ?? Just a thought
The problem is that no Government has been willing to fund Single Status and the assumption that wages would be rounded up to equality has been proven completely wrong.
Equal pay is not just a legal requirement; it's a principle that I should have thought almost nobody would argue with today. The fault here lies with a Government striking an agreement just before going to the polls and knowing that it wouldn't have to deal with the consequences, and a conspiracy of silence between unions and local government employers who didn't want to face the consequences of equal pay.
relaxed
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11:22pm Wed 29 Jul 09
leedsunited4ever
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4:49pm Thu 30 Jul 09
For Every Sprinkle I Find says...
10:13am Wed 29 Jul 09
YOU'RE FIRED
I would rather pay a private company to take my waste then let these oiks and dropouts scatter half the rubbish on the road and leave it.
I will be harrassing my local MP to take action against these morons who think we actually care.