Rubbish piles in Tower Hamlets are set to be cleared as a dispute between the council and members of Unite the Union has ended with a pay deal.
The dispute
Members of Unite the union working for Tower Hamlets Council began striking on 18 September in a dispute over pay. Rubbish began piling up in the streets of East London as more than 200 refuse collection and street cleaners took part in industrial action.
Unite the Union workers had been striking for up to four weeks because of a national pay dispute which was being negotiated on a national level by the union. Unite the Union workers at some other councils had also balloted to go on strike.
However, following concerns from the borough’s Fire Commander last week that the accumulation of refuse was becoming a serious safety issue, the council began employing private contractors to help with the backlog of waste.
While dialogue has been ongoing with Unite the Union throughout, the council also began negotiations last week to see if a local resolution could be found which could result in an end to the strike.
Waste service workers and street cleaners returned to work today after the council and Unite the Union negotiated an end to the pay dispute. Under the terms agreed, the conditions of staff who joined the council in 2020 when its waste and cleansing services were brought in house, will now be aligned to other council staff. For the next few weeks, they will be joined by private waste contractors employed by the council to catch up on missed collections and street cleaning as quickly as possible.
Response
Executive Mayor of Tower Hamlets, Lutfur Rahman, said “I want to thank all parties for coming to this agreement and, in particular, I want to thank our residents for their patience and apologise for the inconvenience this has caused. We found ourselves in a difficult position because the strike was over a national pay dispute. However, with no resolution in sight, we had to act to see if we could negotiate a local solution”.
“We value our refuse staff and we have listened to their concerns to see how we can work constructively and collaboratively to resolve this dispute. Together, we will clear backlogged refuse and clean our streets as quickly as possible.”
Final thought
It is crucial that key workers are paid and treated fairly. This strike action has drawn much attention across social media as it is clear how valuable their work is to the community.
Photo Credit: BBC
