Canterbury bin strikes end as loaders receive 12% pay rise

The deal means drivers will be on £15 an hour, with loaders on £12 from November this year. They will return to work on Monday (11 September),  having first walked out in June.

According to the council, the deal was accepted earlier today (7 September), which came on the back of a meeting with conciliation service Acas yesterday.

Leader of the council, Cllr Alan Baldock, said: “We are happy that the strike is over. We know it has been inconvenient and disruptive for many people over the summer.

“We apologise for all the inconvenience and we thank residents for their patience. We’ve been clear this council will make financial decisions that are sensible and sound. We can’t spend money that isn’t there.”

Finances

The council explained that the offer has been paid for by some of the savings made by striking workers not getting paid over the last nine weeks, forensic future efficiency savings and borrowing of up to a maximum of £40,000 from the council’s savings or reserves.

The new deal meets the demands laid out by the GMB earlier in August, however the latest offer is effective from 1 November, rather than the 1 January previously offered.

Our reserves will need to be replenished as soon as possible

• Cllr Alan Baldock, Canterbury council

Savings

Cllr Baldock however warned that the money to “replenish the council’s reserves, its savings for a rainy day, will need to be found as soon as possible and more information on how this will happen will be published in due course”.

He added: “In order to afford these pay rises, weeks of work has gone into calculating new routes, new efficiencies and forecasting future staffing models. Crews will be required to more regularly work close to their contracted hours, which is how operations in other areas of the country and in Kent are run.

“Some round sizes will be increased slightly in line with those working hours, but will be balanced to make sure work is allocated fairly for those affected. The pay rise was afforded from within Canenco’s budget by making these changes.

“We were clear to the public and the GMB from the beginning that we wouldn’t cut other services to meet these pay demands and that stands.