Hull bin men 'want to avoid strike'
Strike action would be the last resort for Hull's bin men, according to Union officials.
More than 150 workers said they would be prepared to take industrial action after an informal ballot over pay and conditions.
But Joe Gibbins, from workers union Unison, is hopeful Hull City Council will negotiate.
Mr Gibbins told the Mail that workers do not want to have to resort to strike action.
He said: "We just want to sit down and sort this out.
"The last thing anyone wants is any form of industrial action that would affect the public.
"No-one wants the level of service to be affected, least of all the workers.
"The primary reason these men go to work is for pay."
The dispute started after Hull City Council charged 42 bin men with gross misconduct over bank holiday working hours.
Representatives from Unison called the charges brought against members for alleged breach of contract "heavy-handed".
They say changes to working conditions introduced in July caused confusion over the August bank holiday.
New conditions mean bin men who have a bank holiday off have to work the weekend before or after.
Mr Gibbins said: "There was probably a mixture of confusion and dissatisfaction over the new agreement.
"You have to remember this contract is new and none of the men have a copy of it.
"To charge them with gross misconduct is using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.
"We offered the council a compromise but they remain intransigent."
Unison suggested the council downgrade the charge from gross misconduct to misconduct.
The union would then write to individual members to deal with them case-by-case.
Mr Gibbins said: "The members are disappointed that they refused to move and we have to sit down and work out where we go next.
"We have written to them and we are now in dispute.
"We have even made the offer of working the next bank holiday as a goodwill gesture."
As previously reported in the Mail, several bin men in the city were awarded thousands of pounds in compensation for their lost bank holidays.
But Mr Gibbins was keen to point out that 90 per cent of members had only been awarded between £1,000 and £1,500 – some none at all.
Hull City Council officials refused to comment on the process.
26 Comments
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by Charles, Cott
Thursday, September 10 2009, 1:20AM
“If you don't want to strike then don't strike. Nobody is holding a gun to your head!
Or is there an element of numbnuttery going on?”
by super ted, here & there
Wednesday, September 09 2009, 9:23PM
“The new starters were told at interviews & inductions they only had to work the saturday after the bank holiday,not the saturday before the bank holiday.
The new lads have'nt had a penny,& some of them are been investigated about something they did'nt even know about which is unjust & very unfair”
by fed up, hull
Wednesday, September 09 2009, 6:49PM
“some facts.
first off the service got manned in the same way it usually does,volunteers.why the need to go to the paper with the story regarding the disciplinary of gross missconduct,my money is on senior managment who 'leaked' it to the press.i believe that they were summoned to the guildhall and hauled over the coals for the fiasco that they have presided over.an example is that say before,1 gang worked a full estate,now there could be 2 gangs all round the same area albeit covering a larger area.one gang will say work up to say house no.21 then another crew works from 23 in the same street.some crews will work down a street whilst on the same day another crew will go down the same street for one terrace.this 'reorganisation' is an absolute shambles that was paid for to an out of town(so much for local jobs for local workers bandied by the council)company that cost the local tax payer a few million £'s.
i do not believe striking is in the interest of anyone.
there could be a bigger issue to come out of all this as the 'head of service' was the same one that was in charge of the east riding waste managment that went private,look how that turned out.any way the bigger picture could see fortnightly collections when you all get your brown bins(for garden waste,food watse)bigger blue bins(for plastics paper tins marg tubs yoghurt pots etc)these to be collected alternatve weeks which leaves everything else to go into your black bins(which isn't a lot)therefore there will be nothing stopping them from implementing fortnightly collections.”
by Ade, East Hull
Wednesday, September 09 2009, 6:34PM
“The bin men will win and the council will back down because of there collective solidarity, lots of the short sighted selfish comments on this subject just show how ignorant a lot of people are to the history and the facts behind the ongoing struggle of the working class, put a beggar on horse back and he will ride straight to hell, give them chance to buy a house, get a few shares and they think they have made it, well when you get old they will sell your house to pay for your care, the NHS will be gone and you will have to pay for that as well and no doubt you will then get on your computers and start complaining about the state of the country, shame on you”
by Sir Richard, Richard
Wednesday, September 09 2009, 3:02PM
“25k plus a year lol. yeah if your a manager who sits around all day eating biscuits and drinking tea and doing sweet fa.
Drivers and carriers are on less than 20k.
Who read the small print? Do you every time you get insured? We said overtime should be optional. The unions are self serving Idiots like the managers.
Viva la revolution!”