City bin workers' strike gets under way

Crews are working extra hours to empty bins as soon as possible

Refuse workers at a Sheffield depot are beginning a five-day strike over claims management have refused to acknowledge their union.

The industrial action by staff with the Unite union at the Lumley Street site is planned to last until 2 August.

Veolia, which manages waste services on behalf of the council, said it was expecting “temporary disruption” but other non-striking crews would work extra hours to try and keep up with collections.

It added that green bin collections had been suspended until 11 August to prioritise waste and recycling bin rounds.

Veolia said residents should put their black, blue and brown bins out before 07:00 BST on their scheduled collection day and leave them until they had been emptied.

Workers at the depot in Lumley Street are represented by unions Unite and GMB, with some staff belonging to both unions.

Unite regional officer Shane Sweeting said the union had “significant numbers” at the depot and he could not understand why Veolia “was not being reasonable”.

He said they had attempted to use the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) to resolve the issue.

According to Veolia, Unite represented 47% of the Lumley Street workforce and 39% of the overall refuse workforce - which meant it did not have the requisite membership for recognition.

A Veolia spokesperson said they were disappointed Unite had not respected the Trade Union Congress (TUC) Code of Conduct and it had a long-standing recognition agreement with GMB.

They added: “We acknowledge and respect the right of our people to be members of a trade union and remain committed to fair representation and delivering outstanding services to Sheffield."

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