South Glos bin workers using food banks, union says

Unite members have been forming picket lines to demand better pay from Suez

Bin workers on strike are having to use food banks due to low wages, a South Gloucestershire council meeting heard.

About 150 Suez employees who are members of Unite and work on behalf of the council are striking over their demand for a 15% pay rise.

Somerset Suez workers accepted a 9% pay increase but South Gloucestershire members have rejected the offer.

Senior union rep Jim Little said some needed food banks despite working 40-hour weeks.

Mr Little who pleaded with the council to "apply pressure" and help resolve the pay dispute, said: "Enough is enough."

"Do you think it's reasonable that South Gloucestershire refuse workers are paid less than every other contractor in the South West?

"We do a very hard job, we go out in all winds and weathers, we get abused, we get underpaid, we get undervalued," he added.

"Our men and women do not want to be out on strike, we want to resolve this issue and get back to work.

Current industrial action was originally scheduled to end on 9 July

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Mr Little said workers had not had a wage rise in line with inflation in 21 years.

Earlier this month, council leaders issued an open letter urging both sides to thrash out a deal, although it backfired when Unite branded it a "pretend intervention to cover [the authority's] back" and said the council held Suez's purse strings over the waste contract so should exert more pressure.

However, Council leader Cllr Claire Young said the open letter was issued to "complement the work going on behind the scenes" and "to try to bring the parties back to the negotiating table."

A 9% pay increase was accepted by Suez workers in Somerset but rejected by South Gloucestershire members

A 9% pay increase was then offered by Suez but it was rejected by unite members.

Cllr Young said the council "will continue to apply pressure on Suez to get back to the table and we would obviously ask that Unite engage positively in those talks."

In its latest statement on 17 July, Suez said: "We are continuing discussions with the union over the coming weeks and hope to progress negotiations with the aim of coming to a positive solution."