Fears are growing for jobs at Bristol Waste after the company confirmed it was reviewing working patterns and outsourcing some employees. Cleaning and security staff – who controversially transferred from the city council almost two years ago with assurances from mayor Marvin Rees about job security despite protests from opposition councillors and unions – are among those affected and could see their shifts changed.
Meanwhile, the cash in transit team, which goes around collecting money from places like parking machines, will be outsourced to another company. A union is urging the mayor to bring employees back in-house, branding the transfer of 196 cleaners and security workers in June 2021 a “disaster”.
Bristol Waste says the changes are necessary because the tough economic climate and factors such as high inflation and people using cash a lot less than before the pandemic have made the current operations unsustainable and the company, owned by the council, needs to make savings. GMB union Avon & Wessex branch chairman Jeff Sutton said in a statement to Bristol City Council cabinet on Tuesday, March 7: “There has been nil or very little of the investment promised, any savings have been at the staff’s expense, customers and staff are despondent and far from making a profit they cost Bristol City Council money.
Read more: Controversial plans to transfer city council staff to Bristol Waste approved
“The cleaning contract has been poorly managed from the beginning. Security services and CVIT [cash and valuables in transit] staff are concerned for their jobs.
“They have been told of possible shift changes and that CVIT will be outsourced for efficiency savings. It’s management inefficiency, we could almost say deliberate inefficiency, that has made CVIT expensive.
“We all have to ask, if Bristol Waste Company is outsourcing CVIT, shouldn’t it go back to Bristol City Council and they can find another ‘partner’?” In an email sent to Mr Rees and all city councillors ahead of the meeting, which has been obtained by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, he added: “As I pointed out before these services were TUPED over, it was a recipe for disaster.
“These services are failing, management is failing, and the staff and citizens of Bristol have been cheated of the good service they used to get. On behalf of the GMB and its members in Bristol Waste, I have to ask you to use your influence to end this disastrous experiment and bring those services back.”
A Bristol Waste spokesperson said: “Since the transfer of cleaning and security services to Bristol Waste, commercial revenue has increased by £800,000 and savings of over £700,000 have been made. We have also achieved National Security Inspectorate (NSI) accreditation for Guarding and Cash and seen an increase in positive staff and customer feedback, with 69 per cent of staff saying they felt there had been an improvement in training since the move.
“The tough economic climate, increasing inflation and wage costs, restrictive contracts and a cost of operating crisis across the public sector have made growth harder to achieve. These services currently rely heavily on overtime and agency support, and need to be delivered more efficiently.
“In order to achieve essential savings, a sustainable profit and enable the business to compete effectively for new contracts in a highly competitive market, working patterns and shift structures for cleaning and security staff need to be reviewed. Considering the external environment and the large reduction in cash utilised in society, the in-house operating model for the Cash in Transit service is no longer sustainable.
“As a result, we need to consider outsourcing this function to a specialist service provider.” Back in 2021 when cabinet approved the staff transfer, members insisted all workers’ terms and conditions would remain unchanged.
Mr Rees said the agreement provided a “real hard-and-fast safety net”, while deputy mayor Cllr Craig Cheney said: “Staff are protected by TUPE and we have also included additional protections which are defined in the contracts, for example, no future redundancies and complete protection of contracted terms and conditions for the duration of the service agreement.”
Read next:
Bristol Waste bosses deny city council company is in financial trouble
Police investigating alleged fraud at Bristol Waste's Avonmouth tip
Council could scrap its companies amid "very serious concerns" about Bristol Waste's future
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