Louisa Merrick-White
Last week, Sheffield bin workers began strike action as part of a dispute with waste management company, Veolia, over pay and working conditions.
The first walkout took place on Monday 8 November, with union members also marching in protest from Veolia’s depot on Lumley Street to the Town Hall, where they formed a picket line. Strikes were initially planned to take place weekly. However, just a day after they began, workers voted to strike permanently, beginning on Monday 22 November. The permanent strikes are now expected to affect around 200,000 homes, if no resolution is reached before they begin.
Why are they striking?
With the backing of GMB Union, workers have been in talks with Veolia about a “reasonable pay rise” and issues around working conditions for some time. Union representatives now say, with National Insurance and inflation rising, what was a reasonable offer six months ago, now needs to be increased to keep up with other rising costs. Lee Parkinson, of the GMB Union summarised their demands, saying, “all they are asking for is a cost-of-living pay rise that keeps pace with inflation over the next two years”.
Following a below inflation pay offer made by Veolia last month, over 80% of refuse collectors voted for the industrial action we’re now seeing; stating that Veolia’s offer amounted to a real terms pay cut. Tensions increased further, when Lee Parkinson later accused Veolia of “trying to break the strike” by bringing in agency staff to reduce its impact, therefore undermining the industrial action. Shortly afterwards, workers voted to strike permanently.
Most Recent Developments
Following protests and strike action on Monday, and the decision to strike permanently on Tuesday, by Friday of last week, a new pay deal was offered. This means, strike action is now suspended while members are balloted on Veolia’s latest proposal. The walkout planned for Monday 15 November will no longer go ahead. However, if no agreement is reached within the week, the permanent strike may well still go ahead from the 22 November.
The Bigger Picture
This is not the first strike of refuse workers we’ve seen in recent months. Just in the last few weeks, bin workers in Brighton and Glasgow have also gone on strike, supported by the GMB Union. As in Sheffield, strikes took place following dispute over pay and working conditions, with some issues yet to be fully resolved.
While it’s unclear just how long these disputes will go on for, it’s likely that in a city as large as Sheffield, with more people working from home and Christmas just around the corner, Veolia will be keen to find a resolution as quickly as possible.
For now, the advice remains for residents to put their bins out as normal and leave them out until they are emptied.
Featured image courtesy of Benjamin Elliott on Unsplash. No changes or alterations were made to this image. Image license found here.
Louisa Merrick-White
I’m a University of Sheffield graduate keen to build a career in writing and journalism. I love writing opinion pieces on culture, society and when I’m feeling brave, politics.