Bristol could be set for a ‘foul-smelling summer’ if more than 200 workers at Bristol Waste go on strike, union bosses have warned.
Staff at the Bristol City Council-owned waste company who are members of the Unite union, are being balloted about industrial action over a ‘completely unacceptable’ pay offer from company bosses.
The ballot opened today, May 30, and will last a fortnight, with strike action possible from mid-June.
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More than 200 workers at Bristol Waste, which collects household waste and recycling, cleans the streets and runs recycling centres for the city, are members of Unite - around a quarter of the total workforce.
Bristol Waste has massive staff shortages at present, even without a quarter of its workforce going on strike. Earlier this month, the company’s collection teams missed more than 600 streets each day, leaving a backlog that is ongoing, with a backlog that’s gradually being cleared.
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In a statement, Unite union representatives said they backed their members ‘all the way’, and called on Bristol Waste bosses and council chiefs to increase their pay offer.
Unite said workers are ‘angry’ at a pay offer covering 17 months of a seven per cent rise, or £2,000 - whichever is greater. “With the real rate of inflation, RPI, running at 11.4 per cent, this is a significant real-terms pay cut,” a spokesperson said.
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“Bristol Waste, which is wholly owned by Bristol council, can well afford to pay these workers a decent rise,” said Unite leader Sharon Graham. “It is completely unacceptable that a Labour council is leaving its workers to struggle with rocketing living costs when the business it is employing them through is making such large profits.
“Bristol council and Bristol Waste need to come back with a better offer and soon because Unite will be backing our members all the way,” she added.
There is already a waste collection workers’ strike imminent in South Gloucestershire - around 150 Unite members who work for Suez, who have the household waste contract in South Gloucestershire, are also in dispute over pay and have strikes planned for June and July.
Unite’s regional officer, Ken Fish, said Bristol Waste made gross profits of more than £2.3 million for the year ending March 2022, but many of its workers earn ‘little more than the minimum wage’. “Unless an acceptable offer is tabled, Bristol residents will be facing a foul-smelling summer,” he said. “But this will be entirely the fault of Bristol Waste and the council who are refusing to put forward a fair pay rise for these workers.”
A spokesperson for Bristol Waste said: “We deeply value the hard work of our crews and the services they provide for the city, and always seek to reflect that in the competitive salaries we offer.
“Given the wider economic challenges that all businesses are facing, and following negotiations with the trade unions, in January we put forward an offer of either a minimum 7% pay rise or £2,000 per year, whichever is higher, to April 2024. Unfortunately, this offer was rejected.
“We now understand that one of the unions is moving to ballot its members on possible industrial action. We remain keen to avoid industrial action and continue to seek an outcome that all parties can agree on.”
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