Bins to go uncollected again as NI council strikes resume

The strike is the result of a pay dispute between local government employers and the Unite trade union.

Unite members went on strike for a week last month and, as a result, bins went uncollected while dumps, leisure centres and other council facilities had to be closed down.

The impact of the strikes in March varied between council area, with some seeing bin collections halted entirely, some seeing services continue largely as normal, and some seeing bins collected in some locations but not in others.

The council strikes are also set to overlap with the expected shutdown of the entire Translink bus network due to strikes by members of the Unite and GMB trade unions.

Strikes are also continuing at the Caterpillar sites in both Belfast and Larne, meanwhile, with little sign of a breakthrough to date.

And workers in the Education Authority, who provide school transport directly to children attending special schools, are also set to go on strike later this month.

Ballots on possible strike action, meanwhile, remain ongoing at a number of employers across Northern Ireland.

Teaching unions have also rejected a pay offer from the Department of Education, while health workers recently staged a series of protests at hospitals across Northern Ireland over pay.

Unions had warned earlier this year that soaring inflation and the subsequent cost-of-living crisis would lead to a spring and summer of discontent as workers demand pay increases to keep pace.

Speaking to the News Letter from a picket line alongside striking Caterpillar workers yesterday, Unite regional officer George Brash said: “This is ordinary working people and it’s heat or eat for a lot of people.

“It’s not just words. It’s really impacting people who can’t pay their bills. RPI [retail price index, a measure of inflation] came out yesterday and it’s what, 9%? And it’s potentially going to go up again. Every time you turn on the news the price of gas has gone up. Electricity has gone up, food.

“Workers need a fair wage to help them.”

Kieran Ellison, a Unite regional officer with responsibility for the Education Authority and for several councils, said: “I’m disappointed that some of the councils have yet to approach us regarding how we resolve this.

“Some councils — of the allocation I look after — absolutely are bending over backwards now to begin discussions. Some, to date, have not made a meaningful approach to begin any form of negotiation.”