Lisburn and Castlereagh bin collections halted for further four weeks

The industrial dispute follows claims that council workers’ pay – particularly for those already at the lower end of the pay scale – is not sufficient to prevent them being “deeply affected” by the ongoing cost of living crisis.

The strike began on September 6 and, even if a resolution is announced on October 28 when the outcome of the ballot is known, a resumption of normal fortnightly collections will mean some bins going unemptied for ten weeks.

In a statement posted on the Lisburn and Castlereagh Council (LCCC) website on Monday evening, a spokesperson said: “The outcome of the ballot will not be known until Friday, October 28.

“The council had requested a suspension of industrial action until the ballot had concluded as has been the case in other councils.

“Council was disappointed to learn from Unite the union that their members who are currently on strike would not agree to suspend the strike action during the ballot process.”

The statement added: “Whilst council is respectful of an individual’s right to strike, we are now facing a continued period of significant disruption across essential services for at least a further four-week period.

“You should continue to visit the council website for the latest information on service delivery at this time.”

Similar strike action that led to bins not being emptied in the Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon (ABC) Council area was called off after six weeks on September 22, however, some bins have still not been emptied as scheduled.

That stoppage resulted in around half a million bins not being collected and mountains of bins bags full of rubbish being dumped outside the council’s recycling centres.

A statement from the Unite union on Tuesday said the “tactical media postings” from LCCC “further agitates those on industrial action who as yet have to vote to accept or reject the formal offer,” and added: “Unite members also wish to remind others that they did not rush out the door on industrial action in an earlier part of the year, while many other councils etc did take industrial action.

“It appears to the Unite membership that there are those who quickly forget this and instead seek to criticise those on industrial action, the very same people who many stood and clapped for and said thank you to as key workers during the pandemic.”

The statement adds: “We would ask those interested in this dispute to understand that Unite are genuinely seeking to resolve this dispute. In fact it is demonstrable by our actions that we are willing to ballot members on a formal offer, flaws and all in order to get an objective answer, rather than sit in a state of inertia awaiting council to offer what was collectively asked for regarding an equitable outcome, based on equity principal from the ABC formal offer.”