Serco Norfolk refuse and cleansing workers are urging council leaders to intervene to stop next week’s strikes, UNISON says today.
The union says 100 refuse, grounds maintenance, street cleaning and cleansing workers in Breckland and North Norfolk are ready to walk out unless they get a better offer on pay. The workers voted 99% for strikes last month.
After refusing to move on pay during months of talks, Serco finally said it would “tweak” its offer to staff as the ballot closed. But workers rejected the new proposals which would still leave them struggling to get by.
It means a week of strikes across Breckland and North Norfolk will go ahead unless Serco meaningfully improves its offer.
Now UNISON says council leaders need to start pushing the multimillion-pound firm to do better. The union says North Norfolk council leaders have attended some talks with UNISON but Breckland councillors have not been involved so far.
Serco, which announced profits of £237 million last week, has blamed the councils for not paying enough to fund a pay rise.
UNISON Eastern regional organiser Cameron Matthews said: “Breckland and North Norfolk councils seem to have practically washed their hands of their waste services after contracting them out to Serco.
“Serco has tried to blame the councils for underfunding the contract but it’s still posting eye-watering profits. Workers shouldn’t be the ones to pay the price for the firm’s low-balling during the bidding process.
“The councils are still responsible for waste, grounds maintenance, cleansing and street cleaning. They should be piling the pressure on Serco to come to the negotiating table with a meaningful offer.
“Serco’s intransigence is the main reason for these strikes, but as bins go uncollected next week, residents may well ask what their elected representatives are doing to reach a settlement.”