Allerdale Waste Services (AWS) and Cumberland Council have set up a meeting with Trade Unions on Monday 17 July to make every attempt to resolve the current ongoing strike action.
Both the council and AWS have been working strenuously to deliver a residual waste service during the strike in addition to negotiating with Trade Unions to end the industrial action.
Charles Holmes, Managing Director of Allerdale Waste Services said:
“Since the industrial action started, we have collected 82% of all domestic waste on the designated weekly day. Where we have missed a collection, we have either returned the next day or later in the week or collected with excess waste the following week. Our collection rate for the last two weeks has been 99.66%.
“From 27 April 2023 to-date, 4,470 tonnes of household waste have been collected from the former Allerdale Borough Council area, compared to 4,736 tonnes for the same period last year - this demonstrates 94% of residual waste has continued to be collected during this period of strike action, and that AWS alongside Cumberland Council has worked hard at keeping this essential service going.
“We appreciate the patience that residents have shown during this challenging period.
“There has also been a significant increase in the amount of garden waste and recycling received at our Allerdale based household waste recycling centres demonstrating that residents are fully utilising the alternatives made available by the service. There has been a 46% increase in garden waste and a 32% increase in other recyclate including paper, cardboard, plastic, tins and glass.”
Following a meeting with UNITE and GMB on Tuesday 4 July - at which the Unions put forward a variety of proposals - AWS confirmed what they were able to accept and what required further consideration. AWS and the council have organised a follow-up meeting on Monday 17 July to discuss all the proposals.
The Unions are demanding parity between AWS pay and the pay of former Copeland Waste Services staff who are now part of Cumberland Council.
AWS employees were awarded a 10.1% pay rise on 1 April this year which is based on the Foundation Living Wage (a higher rate than the National Living Wage). This increase was both fair and responsible and saw salaries being comparable or higher than other waste services in the Cumberland area.
AWS has already offered unions further improvement to terms and conditions in paying double time for Bank Holidays, the provision of days in lieu of Bank Holidays worked plus four additional days leave which AWS proposed on 1 June.
The Union’s original demands were that they wanted to see the same hourly rate paid as the former Copeland Waste Services staff receive, but without any reduction in hours worked. This would not provide parity across the waste service which the Unions are calling for. It would represent an uplift of 32% for drivers and 19% for loaders and as well as being unaffordable for AWS, would exceed the salaries paid in other areas.