Two-month strike called as Coventry bin pay dispute escalates

Workers are calling for better wages, while the city council disputes figures from Unite the union

Bin lorry drivers are to go on strike throughout February and March as a "bitter" pay dispute escalates.

Workers in Coventry are to strike for their full four-day working week from the end of this month, the council said.

It called the announcement "surprising and upsetting" and added it came a day before further talks were to be held with the Unite union.

The drivers, thought to number about 70, are calling for improved wages.

Unite said members deserve more than the starting salary of £22,183, while the city council says drivers are paid on average £34,143.

Pay ranges from £28,148 to £52,163, according to the authority.

The union announced 19 further strike dates for January, February and March earlier this month.

Almost 60,000 vehicles have visited temporary waste drop sites in the city

However, a request to Unite asking for a driver to be exempt from the strike to allow a crew to pick up waste from care homes was rejected, the authority said.

Workers were balloted over additional pay and Christmas working in December and negotiations since then yielded offers which were rejected by the union, the council said.

Staff were offered £3,500 tax-free to work the Christmas and New Year period and a £1,300 market supplement for drivers towards the bottom of their pay scale, backdated from April last year.

Andrew Walster, director of Streetscene and Regulatory Services at the council, said he wanted to resolve the situation.

"We have made what we believe are very good offers in an attempt to resolve the strike, so we are bitterly disappointed that the response has been to announce even more strike dates," he said.

Two more waste drop-off sites have opened at Wellington Street car park in Hillfields and Coventry Community Resource Centre in Foleshill, after another - Tom White Waste in Holbrooks - was made available to the public on Saturday.

Collections from green-lid household waste bins begin every other week from Monday.