Report by David Niven, Carlisle Labour member
Bin workers in Allerdale in Cumbria, which covers Workington, Maryport, Keswick and other towns in North West Cumbria, are currently on strike. What is particularly disgraceful is that the Labour-controlled Cumberland Council is allowing Tory anti-union laws to be used against them.
Cumberland is a new council, only coming into being on April 1 this year, from the merger of the former district council of Allerdale with Copeland and Carlisle. However, although the new council is now providing a service across the original council areas, bin workers in the three former districts are on different levels of pay.
Workers in Carlisle receive the nationally agreed ‘Green Book’ (GB) rates, workers in Copeland receive slightly higher as a result of a successful dispute a few years ago (£11.98 for loaders and £14.44 for drivers), but the workers in Allerdale receive lower than the GB rates (£10.90 for loaders and £11.98 for drivers). As a result, they are among the lowest paid in the UK.
Some bin workers employed directly, others indirectly
The Allerdale workers are employed by Allerdale Waste Services (AWS), which although nominally a ‘private’ company is in fact 100% owned by Cumberland Council and they are therefore indirectly employed by the Council. In contrast, the workers in Carlisle and Copeland are directly employed by the same Council.
The demand of the unions (Unite and GMB) is for the Copeland rates of pay to be paid to bin workers across the whole of the Cumberland Council area.
In the elections to the new council in 2022, there was a resounding victory for Labour who won 30 of the 46 seats, prompting a visit by Keir Starmer within 24 hours of the results. However the Labour Group leadership did not use this strong mandate to do anything to resolve these pay anomalies to the benefit of the workers in the twelve months of the ‘Shadow’ leadership running up to the inauguration of the new authority.
Scab Labour being paid more than the rate of striking workers
The Allerdale bin workers have so far taken three periods of limited strike action, followed by all out action since May 16. However, rather than taking quick and resolute action to bring pressure to bear on AWS to get a satisfactory resolution, the Labour Group leadership has sat back and allowed managers to utilise new Tory anti-union laws to bring in agency workers in an attempt to undermine the strike.
To add insult to injury, the scab labour is being paid £14 per hour, which is far in excess of the rates for permanent staff.
Unite has met with Council Leader, Mark Fryer, and raised serious concerns about the recruitment of agency labour. Cllr Fryer said he was unaware of the practice and promised to look into it, but since then an even greater number of agency workers have been recruited.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham slammed the Labour leadership of the Authority.
Disgraceful for a Labour authority to use agency scab labour
“It is disgraceful”, she said, “that a Labour authority is prepared to sit back and allow a legitimate strike to be undermined through the use of agency labour made possible by new Conservative government strike breaking laws. Not only should the council and Labour councillors be telling Allerdale Waste that its actions are totally unacceptable, but they should also be ensuring that a fair pay offer is made to end the poverty pay our members are currently suffering.”
Prior to the dispute only six of the bin workers in Allerdale were union members, but now union density is at 95%. Over 93% of union members voted for the strike action.
Members of North Cumbria Labour Left who are also supporters of Left Horizons have visited the joint Unite/GMB picket line in Allerdale to offer the workers our solidarity and support. There was an impressive number of union members there (around 40), and preparations were taking place for the daily barbeque with a sound system in place providing musical accompaniment. We spoke to the union reps to get the latest details of the dispute.
Workers demand same pay rate across the whole authority
Carlisle Trades Union Council has also written to the Cumberland Labour councillors who represent wards in the Carlisle area calling on them to make representations within the Labour Group and Council to get this dispute resolved to the satisfaction of the workers.
Labour-controlled Cumberland Council is now in danger of becoming as notorious as the Labour-controlled Council in Coventry, over the bin workers’ strike there. The clear demand from the labour movement in Cumberland should be for the Council to:
- Use its ownership of AWS to quickly resolve the dispute by levelling up the bin workers’ hourly rates across the whole of the Cumberland Council area.
- Take the necessary steps to bring the refuse collection service in Allerdale back under direct Council control.
