Binmen warned jobs risk as rubbish piles up

BINMEN were today told that their days of working six-hour shifts are about to end.

The warning came as rubbish started piling up on the city's streets due to industrial action.

Council chiefs are about to get tough in an effort to get better value for money from their refuse collection service.

Today the city's outgoing director of environmental services, Mike Drewry, warned the current work to rule would not change the council's plans for radical reform as he admitted he feared the dispute might escalate into an all-out strike.

Collections are being disrupted after some binmen turned down £500 to deal with the extra rubbish generated over the festive season.

As a result, bags of waste are being left to pile up on streets around the city. Five crews out of 30 are refusing to pick up bin bags filled with excess Christmas rubbish left next to wheelie bins.

The amount of work done by binmen in the city has been cut dramatically over the past three years as recycling has been introduced. Many now finish shortly after midday after starting their shift at 6.45am - a situation the council insists cannot continue.

Mr Drewry said: "We cannot carry on paying for a service that's not economical or effective. If you take all this waste [now being recycled] out of the situation, then these guys are not picking up all the waste they could. Then we have to do something about it.

"We can't afford to pay people to finish working at lunchtime and they are going to have to embrace that. No private company works that way. Whatever happens - and I hope it doesn't come to a strike - it will eventually be for the better." Next year the council plans to put the city's rubbish collection services out to tender.

The current set-up will have to prove it can deliver a better service than private firms, or risk seeing the operation taken over by an outside business team.

Initially, the binmen's contracts would be protected in the event of a transfer. But in the long run it is understood they could face job cuts, salary caps, and changes to their pensions.

The council plans to take four bin lorries off the roads in the new year, in a bid to ensure binmen work longer days. This has angered refuse workers who fear the move will lead to job losses. One even said they had foregone their £500 festive bonus in the hope the money it saves the local authority will pay for the lorries to stay on the roads.

Meanwhile, the council has appealed to residents who have not had all their rubbish collected because of the work to rule to keep it until next week's collection.

A council spokesman said: "The majority of the 281 refuse staff are working hard to uplift the normal daily load, in addition to the excess, as quickly as possible." But there would be a delay in collecting any excess, he said.