Derbyshire Dales: Bin staff strike over pay and conditions

Dozens of bin collection staff are picketing outside the Longcliffe depot near Brassington

Bin collection staff in the Derbyshire Dales have gone on strike after negotiations over pay and working conditions broke down.

Workers represented by the GMB union are taking industrial action through the day and on Monday.

The district council has warned collections on both days are likely to be "severely impacted".

The union said the action came after bosses refused to improve on a below inflation pay offer.

The £3.1m per year contract for bin collections is managed by the private company Serco.

In July, it was given up to £150,000 to help fund a pay rise for staff.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) said at a meeting on Thursday, councillors accepted Serco had "failed" in the delivery of its contract and agreed to carry out an investigation.

The Derbyshire Dales District Council meeting heard an inquiry report would be due in December and debated in January.

The district council said collections would be "severely impacted"

The authority said there would be six staff out of 22 to operate bin collections on the strike days, due to a range of issues.

It said as well as the industrial action, it was dealing with sickness and a shortfall in staff caused by HGV driver shortages.

A council spokesperson said: "Available crews will focus on household waste collections only, with no available resource to tackle any scheduled recycling or garden waste collections."

Mick Coppin, regional organiser of the GMB union, said: "Serco Derbyshire Dales have been given opportunity after opportunity to get around the table and make an offer to refuse workers that matches inflation and keep the bin collections on time.

"Company management have failed to do this and they are to blame for these disruptions."

Mr Coppin said refuse workers were "not just legs and arms".

"These are key workers who continued serving their communities throughout the pandemic," he added.

Mark Mansfield, contract manager for Serco, said: "It is always our intention to work in partnership with our trade unions and would urge the GMB to suspend the strike action planned for Friday and Monday whilst conciliary discussions with ACAS are ongoing.

"We are working hard to minimise disruption and... we will be prioritising household waste collections."