A council has expressed deep dissatisfaction about the ongoing disruption to household waste collections due to the refuse collectors’ strike in the former Allerdale district.
In a letter to Cumberland Council, Cllr Keith Teall of Above Derwent Parish Council, which serves Braithwaite, Thornthwaite, Portinscale, Beck Wythop and Newlands Valley, said that parishioners had not had their recycling or garden waste collected since mid-May. He added that many had also experienced problems with grey bin collections with some not being emptied for up to three weeks.
“Our residents have resorted to either transporting their waste to HWRC Flusco, a 30-mile round trip, using bring sites, which are frequently overflowing and do not provide for disposal of garden waste, or simply putting all waste including recycling into their grey bins,” he said in the letter addressed to Denise Rollo, executive member – sustainable, resilient and connected places, which was to be considered at Wednesday night’s meeting of the parish council.
“It is important to note that travelling to HWRC Flusco or a bring site are options only available to the able bodied and those with transport, which is discriminatory.”
Cllr Teall said that Cumberland Council member Jill Perry attended the May meeting of the parish council informing members that though businesses will get a refund for missed collections, the same compensation will not extend to individual council tax payers. He described this in the letter as being “totally unreasonable”.
Workers for Allerdale Waste Services (AWS), a company owned by Cumberland Council, started their industrial action in May over pay. Members of the Unite and GMB trade unions say they deserve parity with their colleagues in Copeland and Carlisle, which now fall under the same authority.
His letter adds that the managing director of Allerdale Waste Services (AWS) has frequently been quoted saying that an increase for drivers and loaders is ‘unaffordable’ but claimed agency workers were being used and paid a reported £2 per hour more than employees.
“These workers no doubt try their best, but aren’t familiar with the routes, local lay-outs, or local problems,” he says. “For example, a refuse lorry staffed by agency workers became stuck in a field in Braithwaite due to not having local knowledge and blindly following a satnav up a narrow road with nowhere to turn.”
He added that Cumberland Council came into existence following local government reorganisation (LGR) council tax payers across the former Allerdale district were hit with a 6.7 per cent rise in their council tax when the executive declared: “On balance we believe it is important to ensure that all residents in the Cumberland area pay the same rate per council tax band, for the services that Cumberland delivers.”
Cllr Teall said it is hypocritical of Cumberland Council to impose a higher tax increase on former Allerdale residents, to bring them up to the same level as Carlisle and Copeland, then claim there is no money to level the pay and conditions of AWS refuse collectors.
“It is clear that across Cumberland Council due to LGR there are now people doing the same job but on different rates of pay, pension and holiday,” says the letter. “This problem was first raised with the shadow authority in July 2022, yet nothing was done. It is time for Cumberland Council to accept that the current situation is untenable.
“Cumberland Council, as sole owner of AWS, has total control over how waste collection is funded and managed in the former Allerdale District. As such we urge you to speedily harmonise terms and conditions across all refuse collectors employed either directly by Cumberland Council or indirectly by AWS.
“This is the only reasonable way to bring this unnecessary and damaging industrial action to a close.”
