Binmen's Christmas overtime anger growing

8:00am Friday 14th December 2012 in News

BINMEN have claimed Thurrock’s Christmas bin collection schedule is “inadequate” and could leave some areas with rubbish sitting around for weeks.

Refuse collectors are embroiled in a dispute with the council over the need to work extra days during the festive period, but the council is saying it isn’t needed, meaning they won’t be getting overtime money.

Unite, the union representing the workers, claims members are entitled by contract to nearly £400 of overtime money and adds the council is “cutting corners” with its collection schedules to avoid paying up.

Staff were asked to vote last week on whether they feel strike action should be taken. Any action could have a big impact on Christmas collections.

Stephen Brown, a 52-year-old binman, said: “I think the feeling in the yard is we will get paid for what we work.

"We only want paying for what we do, but that’s where an adjustment needs to be made to the collection schedules.

“What the council is saying is we don’t need to work extra Saturdays. It’s saying ‘you can do it quicker, we can’t afford to pay you, we don’t want to pay you’.

“We’re saying we need to work Saturdays. There will be more rubbish, so rounds take longer.

“I’m prepared to do the extra work, but I want paying for it.”

Mr Brown, from Ingatestone, claims some bins might not be collected for three weeks over the festive period.

A spokesman for Thurrock Council said: “Nobody will go three weeks without a collection, the maximum gap is six days.

“This Christmas period, residents will also be able to put out side waste and additional recycling. In choosing the collection dates this year, the council was able to return to normal scheduled collections by January 7.

“The schedules have been published for some weeks and the capacity provided by the three-bin system, together with the collection of extra recycling and general side waste, should provide more than enough room.”

Comments(13)

Thurrock Trojan says...
1:06pm Fri 14 Dec 12

If my bins are overflowing, I'll throw the excess bags of rubbish in the street.

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SaveOurStanford says...
9:51pm Fri 14 Dec 12

Thurrock Trojan wrote:
If my bins are overflowing, I'll throw the excess bags of rubbish in the street.
You Idiot ! So you will encourage Rats n Foxes to cause a mass litter problem because your to Lazy to take a few bags up the Tip?
Now the word entitled is a bit loose is or not in the contract?
I am "entitled" to have a christmas aswell but its only 1 day and i will go back to work otherwise i wont pay my bills and tbc will send debt collector round.
Personally i think they are being a bot greedy its like they are saying we want a Bonus like the Bankers but other people like me dont get this or a hamper !! So get a life and get on with your jobs.

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Victorian Bob says...
9:35am Sat 15 Dec 12

If were the Director of Environment on £130,000 I would have them lick the roads clean with thier tongues

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Dave_ says...
2:32pm Sat 15 Dec 12

I’d sack whoever put a contract together and agreed one that implied an entitlement to overtime, obviously public sector workers. Not their money afterall, promise and pay the earth.

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Victorian Bob says...
3:23pm Sat 15 Dec 12

Dave_ wrote:
I’d sack whoever put a contract together and agreed one that implied an entitlement to overtime, obviously public sector workers. Not their money afterall, promise and pay the earth.
I agree Dave I don't think we should pay them either and I think we should make them eat the rubbish to get rid of it. Next time you volunteer to work for nothing give me a shout

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Thurrock Trojan says...
10:29pm Sat 15 Dec 12

SaveOurStanford wrote:
Thurrock Trojan wrote:
If my bins are overflowing, I'll throw the excess bags of rubbish in the street.
You Idiot ! So you will encourage Rats n Foxes to cause a mass litter problem because your to Lazy to take a few bags up the Tip?
Now the word entitled is a bit loose is or not in the contract?
I am "entitled" to have a christmas aswell but its only 1 day and i will go back to work otherwise i wont pay my bills and tbc will send debt collector round.
Personally i think they are being a bot greedy its like they are saying we want a Bonus like the Bankers but other people like me dont get this or a hamper !! So get a life and get on with your jobs.
It's already full of rats and foxes where I live so it makes no difference. I pay my Council Tax which also includes refuge collections. Therefore, I'm not taking my household waste to the local tip.

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Thurrock Trojan says...
10:30pm Sat 15 Dec 12

SaveOurStanford wrote:
Thurrock Trojan wrote:
If my bins are overflowing, I'll throw the excess bags of rubbish in the street.
You Idiot ! So you will encourage Rats n Foxes to cause a mass litter problem because your to Lazy to take a few bags up the Tip?
Now the word entitled is a bit loose is or not in the contract?
I am "entitled" to have a christmas aswell but its only 1 day and i will go back to work otherwise i wont pay my bills and tbc will send debt collector round.
Personally i think they are being a bot greedy its like they are saying we want a Bonus like the Bankers but other people like me dont get this or a hamper !! So get a life and get on with your jobs.
It's already full of rats and foxes where I live so it makes no difference. I pay my Council Tax which also includes refuge collections. Therefore, I'm not taking my household waste to the local tip.

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Dave_ says...
7:27am Sun 16 Dec 12

Victorian Bob wrote:
Dave_ wrote:
I’d sack whoever put a contract together and agreed one that implied an entitlement to overtime, obviously public sector workers. Not their money afterall, promise and pay the earth.
I agree Dave I don't think we should pay them either and I think we should make them eat the rubbish to get rid of it. Next time you volunteer to work for nothing give me a shout
Who said anything about not paying, just not a contract with overtime built in. Of course they want to work Saturdays and over the Christmas and perhaps Easter periods, as they attract a premium. They wouldn't work for nothing would they.
As for volunteering I have the t-shirt, as they say and where I work we don't get overtime, just time off in lieu.

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OckendonPaul says...
10:20am Mon 17 Dec 12

Whilst the idea of a strike is ridiculous, the binmen have a point. There'll be more rubbish to collect but 3 days less in which to do it.
Surely even the TBC dimwits can see there's a problem...

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Thurrockbob says...
5:15am Tue 18 Dec 12

OckendonPaul wrote:
Whilst the idea of a strike is ridiculous, the binmen have a point. There'll be more rubbish to collect but 3 days less in which to do it.
Surely even the TBC dimwits can see there's a problem...
Not necessarily Paul, it would just mean the binmen actually worked for a living instead of working till about 12 and then putting their feet up for a couple of hours till they clocked off!

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OckendonPaul says...
10:17am Tue 18 Dec 12

I believe the way they work is that they have fixed routes each day and once completed they go home, job and knock it used to be called and is also why they start so early - home at lunchtime as pointed out above.
They could of course be forced to to a bit extra each day but not much use if the householder didn't know they were coming!

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PoorFleet says...
3:54pm Tue 18 Dec 12

I always assumed overtime was on an as and when requested basis.

If it's not being requested, why should you still get it?

I'm sure the bosses would love to get them to do overtime and get extra collections in but if you've not got the funds, you can't afford it.

Sounds like a civil servant is being fiscally responsible.

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d_2da_ougle says...
11:45pm Tue 18 Dec 12

when accepting a job i thought you was agreeing to the standard hours, overtime is as and when required decided by the employer of course you can either opt in or out, in a world where money is being cut we have council workers like this NEWS FLASH BIN MEN my company cut overtime around a year ago it hasbeen very sparse since then my awnser was i got a second job i cannot expect overtime

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