Waste collection staff at south Dublin’s main local authority have served strike notice over plans to outsource bin collection to a private firm.
Trade union Siptu served notice on behalf of its members in the waste collection service of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council. The strike action is due to start on Thursday July 22nd.
Branch organiser Ramon O’Reilly said the action is being taken as due to the “unilateral decision” of the county manager Owen Keegan to discontinue waste collection by direct labour.
“This decision by the county manager is in clear breach of agreements reached at the Labour Relations Commission (LRC) in November 2008 and in September 2009,” Mr O’Reilly said.
“It also flies in the face of the commitment to direct labour recently endorsed in the Croke Park agreement.”
Mr O’Reilly said the decision to contract services to Panda was in breach of a council commitment to work with Siptu in promoting direct labour provision, and also to roll out a brown bin collection.
“Not only has the council failed to fulfil its commitments but it has treated its staff, the trade unions and the state industrial machinery with scant regard.”
He said staff learned through a management press release in May that “their jobs in the bin collection service were gone” and that the council was planning to redeploy them to other sections in the council.
Following an invitation from the LRC discussions between Siptu and the council took place on June 29th last at which “an agreement was reached that neither party would take unilateral action while negotiations were continuing”.
On July 8th, the council issued a press release stating that Panda would be taking over the waste collection service on July 26th. In that statement, the council recommended that its existing customers avail of the Panda service and that it would be free for six months for all domestic customers who currently avail of its bin collection services.
The council’s director of water and waste services Frank Austin said then that situation was a “win-win” for the council’s existing customers and for the council itself.
He said the council will make a “substantial financial saving” and that the redeployment of staff who currently provide the grey bin service would result in the delivery of improved services across the areas of street cleansing, water and waste services, transportation and parks.”
He said there would be no compulsory redundancies.