Quality | 2009.10.21
Leeds bin strike continues
Union says 92% of workers voted against offer to reduce pay cuts in return for improved productivity
Hopes of an end to the seven-week bin strike in one of Britain\'s biggest cities collapsed today, as 600 council staff voted to stay out.
Productivity clauses in a "best and final" offer from Leeds city council were described by unions as "impossible to carry out", although the deal would have seen a reduction in the amounts by which salaries would be cut.
The dispute, which has led to mounds of rubbish piling up in some parts of the city, is being watched closely by other councils. It stems from equal pay requirements, which nearly a third of England and Wales\' 325 local authorities have still to implement, at a time of severe public spending curbs.
Leeds\' joint Liberal Democrat and Conservative leaders said that they were "puzzled, disappointed and dismayed" that the offer had been voted down. Councillors had been convinced that the smaller salary cuts, plus pay rises for some of the crews, would win the day.
The council said that the offer meant an annual pay cut of £231 for refuse collectors, instead of the original maximum loss of £4,491, which led to the walkout. But council drivers who empty street litter bins would still lose up to £994 and street sweepers £543, instead of £3,535 and £2,634. All the cuts would be phased in over two years.
Desiree Risebury, Yorkshire regional organiser for the GMB union, said that staff had always been prepared to work longer hours, but that the deal required speeds within the existing timeframe that were "just physically impossible". The union calculated that crews would have to collect from 220 properties an hour – an increase of 30 on current rates, and working out at clearing almost four sets of wheeliebins a minute.
Risebury, who recorded a 92% vote against the deal, said: "Everyone has seen the speed at which the bin crews operate and know this target cannot be reached. This offer appears to have been designed to fail on this basis, which is why members voted to reject it."
Tim Roache of the GMB said that the demand also sat unhappily with pay cuts for some staff, which were still approaching £1,000 on average salaries of £18,000. He called on the council to follow other authorities in rounding up women\'s pay to achieve equality, rather than taking men\'s salaries down.
Richard Brett, the Liberal Democrat leader of the council, said: "I simply do not understand why workers have rejected what was an excellent offer.
"With hard work we had found a way of addressing the pay gap for the majority of staff, which was the primary reason given for the strike in the first place.
"It\'s clear to me now that the dispute is no longer principally to do with money – it\'s about productivity and efficiency."
The Conservative group leader, Andrew Carter, said: "It is wrong that Leeds has a refuse collection service that is 20% less efficient than many other councils – an inefficiency that equates to approximately £2m.
"That is why we were very happy to put a proposal on the table that dealt with the pay gap issue, as long as the workforce delivered the required productivity in return."
The strikers have retained widespread public sympathy up to now because of the size of the original cuts. A benefit concert for them at the weekend, led by actor and musician Keith Allen, featured a "Binmen\'s Ballet" song and dance routine by crews, featuring mobile phone rings all taken from the Strawbs\' 1973 hit Part of the Union and choreographed as Refuse to be Beat.
For more information, please visit
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/oct/21/leeds-binmen-reject-deal
