GMB Union is ready to push the button on strike action, we just hope the council will engage with us
Crunch talks between are set for today [Thursday 24 March, 2022] between North Somerset council and GMB union in a bid to avert a forthcoming bin strike.
Almost 100 workers at recycling centres and refuse collection services run by North Somerset Environment Company are set to walk out in the coming weeks.
The strike could affect 88,000 homes.
Workers are angry after North Somerset Council, who set up the company last year, have only provided funding for a 4.5 per cent pay award over two years.
With inflation running at 7.8 per cent and expected to get even higher, this amounts to a big real-terms pay cut.
More than 80,000 homes in North Somerset could be left with piling bins after refuse staff have overwhelmingly voted to strike over pay. https://t.co/cDA2w779id
— Weston, Worle & Somerset Mercury (@WSMERCURY) March 7, 2022
Tim Northover, GMB Regional Organiser, said:
“It's really crunch time now for these talks.
“Our members are fed up with not being listened to and the council dragging its heels on a deal.
“We’re ready to push the button on strike action, we just hope the council will engage with us and we don’t have too.
“Nobody wants this, but at the end of the day our members are fed up of being pushed about.”
