[News] Brighton waste collection strike….

[herecomesaregular]

54 HGV drivers paralysing the city's waste collection and recycling processing is unacceptable.
The latest negotiating tactic by the GMB, stretching the paralysis months into the future, is also unacceptable.

No matter what grievances the HGV drivers have, the very first responsibility of the council is to clear up the mess for which they are ultimately responsible.

The most urgent mess is the piles of rotting waste.

A secondary mess, is a small group of well organised employees, led by a career agitator, who have engineered a position in which they can hold the city and its citizens to ransom. They have abused their power for decades, deliberately preventing the council from carrying out its duties.

In the short term, I don't know what emergency measures the council might be considering, but I hope they are introduced very soon.

Here is a possible solution for the medium term. The HGV drivers are often described as essential workers. I disagree. Emptying our bins is an essential service, but the drivers of the HGV vehicles need not be essential. The HGV vehicles could be replaced with smaller electric waste collection vehicles, which anyone can operate without an HGV licence. This would reinforce the city's green credentials, and the HGV drivers would then become candidates for redundancy. Those who are open to redeployment can stay. Those who remain militant and refuse change, can leave.

For the long term, I'm afraid the solution involves removal of the key agitator. The exclusion of Mark Turner, GMB convenor, from all further negotiations/consultations with staff has to be a pre-requisite. His militancy and intransigence belongs to a bygone age.

Get the army in to drive the trucks.

Near where I live the bin truck driver regularly reverses into several surrounding brick walls and damages them, knocks parts off and down. Doesn't appear they are very skilled HGV drivers. Often rubbish is not collected as some drivers don't even bother trying to reverse up.

 

[pastafarian]

Imagine if the strikes carries on till after Christmas...

Brighton will look like an African landfill site

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One can only but wish for that level of improvement in Brightons waste management by christmas

 

[Chicken Run]

Robert Nemeth a few days ago…


“I wouldn’t be surprised to see a pre-planned press release appearing shortly that magically suggests that Labour has saved the day.”

Labour’s Co council leader a few moments ago…….

“I’m really pleased that we have been able to broker a deal that should help the Council negotiate an end to the City Clean dispute that has seen rubbish and recycling piling up on our streets for nine days.

“We have won agreement today for the Council to bring in an independent mediator to help resolve the industrial dispute, and to negotiate for dispensation to address fire safety concerns in bin stores.

“We have given the Green administration the tools to resolve this dispute once and for all, and our suffering residents are depending on them to do so.”


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[Weststander]

Fingers crossed, hoping that the GMB/workers accept.

 

[Eric the meek]

Fingers crossed, hoping that the GMB/workers accept.

View attachment 141264

Without knowing the details of the proposal, given past behaviour, I remain sceptical that the GMB will accept. I hope I am wrong.

On the ground, majority opinion among the long-suffering residents of Brighton is firmly against the strike. In a very loud and clear manner.
Perhaps for once, the binmen may actually, finally, take note of their customers.

We live in hope.

 

[HantsSeagull]

None of that sounds like its ending any time soon then

 

[Mellor 3 Ward 4]

We were told that this was never about Pay - it was about 'working practices' - in other words crews who finished their rounds before their allotted hours were up were being told to move to other rounds to help out.

Crews, rightly or wrongly, didn't like this idea - saying that those which were more efficient (by jogging round etc.) were being punished for being more efficient than others.

We are told the Council offered a pay rise (not previously asked for by GMB) which was then subsequently withdrawn - hence the 20 minute meeting - and now it looks like following yesterday's Council meeting will once again be put forward to the GMB.

So the workers will be getting a pay rise they didn't actually ask for!

Well played Brighton Council - superbly negotiated!

 

[Eric the meek]

We were told that this was never about Pay - it was about 'working practices' - in other words crews who finished their rounds before their allotted hours were up were being told to move to other rounds to help out.

Crews, rightly or wrongly, didn't like this idea - saying that those which were more efficient (by jogging round etc.) were being punished for being more efficient than others.

We are told the Council offered a pay rise (not previously asked for by GMB) which was then subsequently withdrawn - hence the 20 minute meeting - and now it looks like following yesterday's Council meeting will once again be put forward to the GMB.

So the workers will be getting a pay rise they didn't actually ask for!

Well played Brighton Council - superbly negotiated!

Very good point. It does seem that you're right ! I was vaguely aware that a pay award seemed to have crept into scope, after the GMB outlined the reason for the strike, but I never voiced it.

I don't suppose we will ever get it confirmed, as it would be deeply and profoundly embarrassing for the council if it were found to be true.

As it is, it does appear that they have just rolled over and gone belly up.

 

[amexer]

I hope nobody will be tipping them at Christmas

 

[giveusfalmerplease]

Here's a radical idea. Why don't they rotate routes to see if this is a case of some crews working harder than others. Then maybe the best crews can get a small bonus each quarter but make them work for the full 9+ hours they are paid. I wonder how many of those workers had friends or family who were hospitalised in the last 2 years. Imagine the nurses turning round and saying they were going home early as they had completed their round whilst others were struggling. FFS if u are paid for 9 hours fekking work 9 hours

 

[Chicken Run]

I hope nobody will be tipping them at Christmas

There will be a 1 or 2 who don’t actually live in the city who will be against this but I reckon they will be out of pocket as a result of this debacle, I give a very generous tip along with the Postie, she will be getting double this year.


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[Surf's Up]

Mark Turner - is all you need to know.

 

[jessiejames]

So basically it's the drivers who decided to strike, meaning the rest of the work force had no choice. Some drivers get the routes done quicker than others, they are paid by the hour, contracted for 40 hours a week, some will work 40 hours some will only work 30, I see no problem in sending out the drivers who are below the hours back out. Unfortunately the work shy drivers don't like this, sack the ***** then. At the end of the day I have never seen a dust cart driver get out of the vehicle, its the others who pull the bins so 10 foot and attach it to the back of the dust cart to be emptied.
When I was young the driver would get out and carry a bin to you house and swop it over, now we have to do part of a dustpersons job for them wankers the lot of them. They need to get back to work and do what they are payed to do.

 

[WATFORD zero]

So basically it's the drivers who decided to strike, meaning the rest of the work force had no choice. Some drivers get the routes done quicker than others, they are paid by the hour, contracted for 40 hours a week, some will work 40 hours some will only work 30, I see no problem in sending out the drivers who are below the hours back out. Unfortunately the work shy drivers don't like this, sack the ***** then. At the end of the day I have never seen a dust cart driver get out of the vehicle, its the others who pull the bins so 10 foot and attach it to the back of the dust cart to be emptied.
When I was young the driver would get out and carry a bin to you house and swop it over, now we have to do part of a dustpersons job for them wankers the lot of them. They need to get back to work and do what they are payed to do.

Exactly

Just sack all the lazy f***ers with the HGV licences ................ oh

 

[trueblue]

On the plus side, I had a rat to keep me company when I was running along the prom this morning.

 

[herecomesaregular]

So basically it's the drivers who decided to strike, meaning the rest of the work force had no choice. Some drivers get the routes done quicker than others, they are paid by the hour, contracted for 40 hours a week, some will work 40 hours some will only work 30, I see no problem in sending out the drivers who are below the hours back out. Unfortunately the work shy drivers don't like this, sack the ***** then. At the end of the day I have never seen a dust cart driver get out of the vehicle, its the others who pull the bins so 10 foot and attach it to the back of the dust cart to be emptied.
When I was young the driver would get out and carry a bin to you house and swop it over, now we have to do part of a dustpersons job for them wankers the lot of them. They need to get back to work and do what they are payed to do.

I am against the strike and fed up with the decades long issue with rubbish collection and recycling in Brighton (see posts above) but this isn't entirely correct. Where we are there are often only 2 crew in the cab and both (one being the driver) get out of the cab and load up the bins - when they come that is, which for many months before the strike was often maybe 50% of the time they should have.

Also, my only (tenuous admittedly) comparison is when I was part of the recycling crew for Glastonbury (5-6 times, too old and arthritic-ey now). It was annoying to be part of a team that cleared the Pyramid stage field early because we were working hard to be then told to go and assist one of the other areas, and to get there to find people arsing around and dragging their feet, and hence behind. If one round is finishing earlier because they are more efficient I can see they'd be annoyed to be switched but then that is an internal issue amongst the CityClean workers themselves and not valid for strike action (just requiring better management).

 

[jessiejames]

Exactly

Just sack all the lazy f***ers with the HGV licences ................ oh

They have agency drivers available, this was another one of the disputes agency drivers covering a round that starts at 6am when driver is off, this should have been given to the drivers that start at 7am. They also have HGV drivers who are not driving the carts.

 

[jessiejames]

I am against the strike and fed up with the decades long issue with rubbish collection and recycling in Brighton (see posts above) but this isn't entirely correct. Where we are there are often only 2 crew in the cab and both (one being the driver) get out of the cab and load up the bins - when they come that is, which for many months before the strike was often maybe 50% of the time they should have.

Also, my only (tenuous admittedly) comparison is when I was part of the recycling crew for Glastonbury (5-6 times, too old and arthritic-ey now). It was annoying to be part of a team that cleared the Pyramid stage field early because we were working hard to be then told to go and assist one of the other areas, and to get there to find people arsing around and dragging their feet, and hence behind. If one round is finishing earlier because they are more efficient I can see they'd be annoyed to be switched but then that is an internal issue amongst the CityClean workers themselves and not valid for strike action (just requiring better management).

The problem is like most planners who plan routes they are incompetent. I live in a close the rubbish is collected on a Monday on the main road, but another crew collect mine on a Tuesday then go off to another part of town.

Sorry but if they are contracted for 40 hours a week then they should all work those hours.

Never seen a dust cart with only a driver and one other person working.

 

[wellquickwoody]

For the long term, I'm afraid the solution involves removal of the key agitator. The exclusion of Mark Turner, GMB convenor, from all further negotiations/consultations with staff has to be a pre-requisite. His militancy and intransigence belongs to a bygone age.

Well said Calling him a dinosaur is underrating the cock. He is manipulative, untrustworthy and and happy to sacrifice his members popularity to further his own ends. I cannot imagine that he is not a Momentum activist too. Utter twunt, IMO.

 

[bobby baxter]

We were told that this was never about Pay - it was about 'working practices' - in other words crews who finished their rounds before their allotted hours were up were being told to move to other rounds to help out.

Crews, rightly or wrongly, didn't like this idea - saying that those which were more efficient (by jogging round etc.) were being punished for being more efficient than others.

We are told the Council offered a pay rise (not previously asked for by GMB) which was then subsequently withdrawn - hence the 20 minute meeting - and now it looks like following yesterday's Council meeting will once again be put forward to the GMB.

So the workers will be getting a pay rise they didn't actually ask for!

Well played Brighton Council - superbly negotiated!

Like him or loathe him, it is a fact that Mark Turner has the ability to absolutely rinse the council managers, elected members and negotiating team.

Expect a few low level managers to thrown under a bus when this is settled