Fury as street’s bins are missed
Friday 25th June 2010, 11:30AM BST.
Piles of rubbish were today still piling up in one Black Country street, after a binmen dispute caused bags of waste to build up over three weeks.
Angry residents in Jenny Close, Tipton, have not had their waste collected because disgruntled binmen in Sandwell have started working to rule in a row over pay.
The Express & Star reported yesterday that neighbouring Julie Croft had not had a collection in two weeks. But private contractors finally cleared the street of piles of rubbish last night.
Sandwell Council binmen have refused to work over their contracted hours due to the pay dispute.
Council bosses said collections at around 200 homes were being missed each day as a result and that private contractors brought in to clear the mess were costing taxpayers £11,500-a-week.
Kevin Love, aged 48, has lived in Jenny Close for 20 years said today: “We are all absolutely disgusted with what’s going on.”
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So who do we blame? The binmen for not doing the work? Or the council who arrange for the work to be done at a high cost but at least get the rubbish moved?
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Sandwell Council? say no more…………!
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They havent collected ours this week but they have taken my parents rubbish and they only live down the road.
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Not one to ask but they say they are working to rule..
What exacly does this mean…
I.E there contracts times etc what are they?
Surley a FOI request could get this?
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I think ratepayers need pay to rule. The main rule being that when we don’t get a service we’ve already paid for we deduct it from the next rate payment.
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Working to rule in many organisations tends to be just following written procedures but following them to the letter.
No management guidance, no short cuts, no doing what the gaffer says, just solely the written procedures.
Usually a lot slower work, strict breaks, and no overtime.
Its a way of striking without striking, still get paid regular wages.
And can cause a lot of chaos – much of many people’s jobs are not written down in procedures.
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Then does this not serve to the emphasise the point that on a regular basis, bin-men are required to do more for the same amount of money? That the amount they receive is going to be less and therefore they are working even harder?
Now ask yourself this. How many other areas of Europe are workers expected to do unpaid work? It’s seems systematic of employment in this region, that it’s almost a crime to pay people to work? It paves the way for exploitation and low wages, long hours culture regardless of the type of work undertaken.
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Not really. Just emphasises that like virtually all other jobs, not everything is written down in procedures.
Its not unpaid work, its working particular ways to speed things up, make it easier on people and get the job done.
I’ve never worked in a job where even as much as 50% of the work needing to be done was done according to strict written procedures.
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Why do we pay binmen to not empty bins? If they don’t do their job they should be swept aside and their jobs given to people who will. This work is for the benefit of the ratepayers who pay for it, not the binmen who don’t want to do it. I’d much rather have a private contractor do the job because if he don’t perform I can sack him.
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If the bin men don’t want to work then they should be sacked.
There’s plenty of unemployed people out there who would be happy for their easy work.
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Have you ever tried it, Trevor? They’re striking over being asked to do more, for less. That the work they normally do is in addition to their normal duties..you only need look at the mess created to realise it. The Council needs to get it’s own house in order instead of timing these pay cuts; maybe if they didn’t spend so much on traffic Islands and empty, expensive arts centers, or supporting wars and fat-cat bankers, we wouldn’t be in this mess..
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And they are striking about being overpaid in previous years, now the pay is being resorted they feel they are losing out.
Perhaps they would rather have a bill for the overpayments they have had?
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Perhaps instead of making sweeping statemnents about something you obviously no nothing about, try presenting yourself at the council depot to learn alittle about the subject. I doubt whether you will as all you do allday is complain about issues that are far above your head. Get a life!
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I do know a bit about this subject, including some of the past that has led to this issue. It affects me. Are you being affected by it too?
Not sure how you come up with the idea that people complain all day about issues that are above their head. Is your favourite sport jumping to conclusions?
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