Bin collection staff in Derbyshire could be set to strike - two years on from walkouts causing widespread missed pickups

Around 50 bin collection staff in the Derbyshire Dales, employed by Serco, are balloting for strike action with the vote closing on Tuesday, August 15.

This follows the offer of a “real terms pay cut”, trade union GMB says, with workers requesting an eight per cent pay rise for drivers and 12 per cent hike for loaders – to bring them in line with other workers at other Derbyshire refuse collectors.

Mick Coppin, GMB organiser, said: “Our members aren’t taking this decision lightly, but the fact is that Serco have forced them into a corner on pay.

“Derbyshire Dales is one of the most expensive parts of Derbyshire to live and raise a family in; for Serco to be pushing poverty pay on our hard-working refuse workers is a disgrace.

“Derbyshire Dales faces a big stinky summer if Serco don’t get their act together and bring an offer to the table that reflects our members value.

“Support from local people has been fantastic, they know it’s Serco forcing local refuse workers into an impossible situation.”

The district council and Serco were both approached for comment on the potential new strike action but have not responded as of this article’s publication.

The threat of potential strike action comes nearly two years on from two days of strike action in October 2021, when the trade union said Serco had offered a below-inflation pay offer of one per cent – with inflation at 2.2 per cent at the time.

UK inflation is currently at 7.9 per cent.

During that strike, more than 40 refuse collection staff walked out with Serco eventually agreeing to an increase in line with inflation.

It also comes a year after Derbyshire Dales District Council, which outsources the bin collection operation to Serco at a cost of £3.1 million a year, voted to spend £30,000 to investigate bringing bin collections back “in-house”.

This was after an investigation found the firm had “not met the standards we require of the contract” with the council in talks with another local authority about potentially making a deal to share bin collection services.

It has so far given Serco an extra half a million pounds during the pandemic to prop the operations up, with hundreds of thousands of missed collections and periods in which pick-ups were suspended.

Council officers had said last April that the authority expected Serco to be asking for more money, with the firm having alluded to a loss of £700,000 per year on the existing contract.