'Pouring petrol on a fire'

Council urged to keep talking to bin workers over strike action

Plaid Cymru councillors have demanded that Wrexham Council starts negotiating in good faith with unions representing bin workers, who have a mandate to take strike action.

The call comes after an extraordinary meeting of the council's Joint Consultative Committee today to discuss the industrial dispute. The JCC brings councillors, management and trade unions representing the council's workforce together and it appeared to be one showing signs that both sides of the dispute wanted to de-escalate and find a solution.

That constructive mood was shattered just 20 minutes after the meeting with a blunt council press statement trying to blame workers for the situation. The industrial action had been called after the council announced plans to claw back £100,000 in pay from 245 bin workers - a figure amounting to hundreds of pounds a year by reducing overtime pay for working Saturdays rather than bank holidays.

Councillor Marc Jones, Plaid Cymru group leader, said: 

"The meeting was lively and honest. At the end of that debate, I supported a motion calling for the council to continue dialogue with the unions involved on the current terms and to avoid the need for industrial action in the coming week or so. It was unanimously agreed that this was a way forward. The opportunity was there to de-escalate the tension and to find a solution. So it's inconceivable that a statement - which must have been pre-prepared to have gone out so quickly after this important meeting - was made public and escalated bad feeling further.

"Bin workers are among the lowest paid workers on the council yet they do a vital job. Clawing back hundreds of pounds from each worker isn't the right way to make £100,000 savings when the Welsh Government has just awarded the council £3.8 million for its recycling work. 

"I'm concerned that some senior managers are still trying to fight the last bin strike rather than working constructively together for the good of all. Some of their actions have been pouring petrol on a fire."