Bin strikes costing Coventry City Council £1.8m

Ongoing bin collection strikes across Coventry are costing the council £1.8m, it said.

Bin lorry drivers, who are members of Unite, have been staging walk-outs in the city in a dispute over pay.

The £1.8m is due is due to a drop in income from the council's commercial waste collections, as well as the cost of hiring private drivers and creating temporary collection sites.

Unite said the council was being short-sighted.

About 75 bin lorry drivers have been striking since January over pay and conditions, with independent arbitrator Acas now involved in negotiations.

The Labour-run council insists it is one of the highest-paying local authorities in the West Midlands.

Both the council and union have questioned the other side's claims regarding drivers' pay.

Several temporary waste collection sites have been opened across Coventry to allow residents to drop off rubbish, while a private waste firm owned by the local authority is being brought in to help collect bins.

The council is saving some money as it is not paying striking drivers' wages during the period, but has warned there could be job losses to balance the books.

Andrew Walster, director of street scene at Coventry City Council, told BBC CWR: "Obviously I'd hope to protect jobs, but that may not always be possible."

He said it was "difficult to say" how many jobs could be lost.

But Simon O'Keefe from the Unite union said it would work to "protect jobs and working conditions of our members".

"That is exactly what we are trying to do with these HGV drivers and it's the council who are not listening to us."

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham, who was due to speak at an online rally on Wednesday, added: "Coventry council is guilty of wasting council taxpayers' money.

"This dispute would take just £250,000 to resolve.

"The council estimates that the dispute has already cost it £1.8m and yet it continues to pour money into a private waste service rather than resolve the strike."

It comes as people in Nuneaton, who have their waste contract with Coventry City Council, said the strikes were also hitting their services.

James Collins, who manages the Bermuda Phoenix Centre, said it had not had waste collected since Christmas and had "no place to go" with the rubbish generated by the community groups who use it.

But Councillor Kris Wilson, the leader of Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council, said there was no need for public household recycling drop-off points yet.

Coventry City Council is due to sign off its annual budget on 22 February.

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