Coventry bin workers warn strikes "imminent" over council’s fire and rehire plan
The city's refuse workers and HGV drivers took action last year in a 6-month dispute over pay and conditions.
Coventry City Council has been told to expect strikes over the cabinet’s decision to move forward with a plan to fire and rehire its refuse workers.
Unite members have already voted for strike action following the initial discussion of the plan earlier this year.
They say it is the council’s attempt to fight equal pay claims by GMB members by ending industry standard task and finish provisions for refuse workers.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: "It is frankly abhorrent that Coventry’s Labour council is now using fire and rehire tactics on its own workers. Using task and finish as an excuse for the council’s wider financial woes is absurd and going to these extremes, in order to end it and engage in a race to the bottom on employment is completely unacceptable.
"Instead of trying to ensure that those on the worst contracts stay on them, they should be equalising the disparities between employees by levelling up. Unite never accepts attacks on our members’ jobs, pay or conditions and Coventry council can expect imminent strike action."
A Council spokesperson said "As a Council we have a duty to ensure that we’re deploying our resources in a way that ensures that we’re doing the best job we can and providing the best services for our residents. Our waste service is full of employees who work hard. However, we believe it can and should be even more efficient which is why we’re proposing these changes – to achieve best in class.
"Crucially, these changes allow us to keep the service in house. Other local authorities have outsourced their waste services in recent years but that wasn’t a route we wanted to take. By avoiding outsourcing, staff will remain council employees with the right and proper benefits that brings – fair pay for a fair day’s work."
The Council says it wants to avoid strike action, but it also wants to reassure residents that any disruptions will be kept to a minimum.
Discussions between the local authority and trade unions will continue.
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