Rotherham gravediggers to strike after pay offer rejected

The union is calling for cemetery maintenance staff to be paid £11.10 an hour

Nine days of strike action by gravediggers in Rotherham will go ahead, a union has confirmed.

Unison said a pay offer had been made to cemetery grounds maintenance staff but it had been rejected.

The union said workers employed by a contractor would be paid £1,100 a year less than similar staff who are employed directly by the council.

Glendale Grounds Maintenance (GGM) is a private contractor delivering the crematoria service for the council.

Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council leader Chris Read previously urged GGM to "agree a fair deal".

The walkouts were put on hold while the pay offer was being considered but the first strike is now scheduled to take place on 20 to 22 October.

Unison called for workers to be paid £11.10 an hour and for this to be backdated to 1 April.

They said the pay offer would still see staff paid 59p per hour less than people employed directly by the council.

Employees are also unhappy about GGM's "failure to increase the stand-by rate paid to staff who work weekends and bank holidays," the union said.

'Important work'

Unison Rotherham branch secretary Ruth Askwith said workers had "made it clear they won't be treated less favourably than their council-employed counterparts".

"Glendale staff do really important work, ensuring people's loved ones are laid to rest in a dignified manner," she said.

"They care deeply about the work they do. They just want to be paid fairly for it."

Not a single person voted to accept the pay offer, according to the union.

Cemetery maintenance work in Rotherham is contracted out to a company called Dignity which then subcontracts services to GGM, the union said.

A spokesperson for Dignity said it wanted to reassure "bereaved families that any industrial action will not impact on the services they receive".

They said contractors were required to have "a contingency for this eventuality" and that the company would be "able to allocate our people and resources efficiently to address any needs that may arise".