Christmas bin strikes planned in bullying row

Refuse workers will not collect bins from 27 December to 30 December

Bins will not be collected for four days in South Tyneside due to strikes announced by refuse workers.

Members of the GMB union will strike from 27 December to 30 December over alleged bullying of workers and mismanagement of services.

The local authority commissioned an independent investigation into the allegations, but GMB said the deadline for its publication had passed.

The council said it was "disappointed" with the union's decision to pull out of talks.

The talks involving ACAS were scheduled to take place on 5 December.

A spokesperson for the council said: "GMB and Unite unions planned industrial action before the outcome of the independent investigation and are now proposing further strike action without getting round the table for conciliation with ACAS.

"Despite this, we remain committed to resolving matters through dialogue."

GMB claims the final report was expected at the end of November, but has yet to be made available to members, and the delay was the reason it pulled out of the ACAS talks.

A spokesperson for the union said: "There's nothing to negotiate about as the council won't negotiate outside of the report."

The council said it is "investigating all options" for providing bin collections but warned it must not break laws surrounding workers' rights to strike.