UNITE the union has claimed Coventry City Council was continuing to the attack terms and conditions of its members as it has given notice to the authority it will ballot 55 HGV refuse workers for strike action.
The union announced its workers’ intention to strike in August after claiming the council planned to end ‘task and finish’ and possibly privatise the city’s refuse service.
The loaders will begin voting on whether to walk out, and action short of a strike, on Tuesday, October 10 and it will close two weeks later.
The union said 40 HGV refuse lorry drivers employed by the council have already voted for strike action.
During the first half of 2022, Coventry’s HGV refuse lorry drivers went on strike for six months in a dispute over pay.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Coventry council is once again targeting the terms and conditions of frontline workers.
“The Labour-controlled council appears to have learned nothing from the 2022 strike. If another strike goes ahead residents will only have their councillors to blame.”
Unite national lead officer, Onay Kasab added: “Local government workers have seen pay being cut in real terms by over 20 per cent since 2010. Unite is the union that has been fighting to reverse those cuts.
“Coventry council need to learn from its mistakes and quickly negotiate and end this dispute.”
A Council spokesperson said: “For several months, we have been talking to all trade unions to try and collectively agree on a position to remove task-and-finish which currently allows crews to leave work early if they have finished their round.
“However, despite our best efforts, we have not been able to get to a position all three trade unions can agree on.
“This means we now need to explore other options as we have been clear that it is non-negotiable that task and finish must end.
“It is important that we protect the Council from any potential future equal pay claims.
“It is not an attack on crews who empty bins, no matter how the union tries to present it.
“We will need to await the ballot result but we want to reassure residents that we will do all we can to continue to provide a bin collection service.”
