Barrow rubbish collection staff go on strike over pay

Refuse collectors are to go on strike over a pay dispute with "pig-headed" bosses, a union has said.

Workers employed by FCC Environment in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, plan to take industrial action on 9-11 and 16-18 March.

The GMB union said FCC's offer amounted to a "real-terms pay cut" but the company claimed it was "fair" and higher than offers accepted elsewhere.

Organiser Michael Hall said staff were "at the end of their tether".

"Bosses are trying to fob them off with a real-terms pay cut while the country is in the grip of the worst cost of living crisis in a generation," he said.

"Now, thanks to FCC's pig-headedness, tens of thousands of Barrow homes won't have their rubbish collected."

The union called on FCC's management to offer "an actual pay rise" so staff could "make ends meet".

It claimed more than three-quarters of the workforce planned to strike, which would affect more than 33,000 households.

However, FCC said a "significant majority" of its Barrow staff would not be on strike and household waste collections would continue as usual.

"If more staff attend work then we will be able to offer recycling collections in addition," a spokesperson said.

"We are asking residents to put their bins out as normal on the normal day and we will clear them as soon as we can."

The firm said pay negotiations which started in April 2021 had been "progressed by the GMB at an unacceptably slow pace".

It said it offered a competitive pay and benefits package.

Barrow Borough Council, which has contracted out refuse collection to the company, has been approached for comment.

In 2019, Allerdale Borough Council suspended bin collections after problems with a new contract awarded to FCC, which the company blamed on "inaccurate" council data.

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