Coventry residents face four more days of waste collection disruption as garbage strikes resume.
Garbage truck drivers continue their industrial action from today, with a four-day strike until Friday, January 14.
The impact will likely be even more severe than that seen in the two-day strike that occurred last week.
READ MORE: All the latest news from Coventry
There is currently an impasse between Coventry City Council and the Unite union following the failure of discussions on the remuneration of garbage drivers.
This sparked a bitter war of words between city council and the union.
They traded punches, with the council dismissing demands for low pay and claiming its garbage truck drivers earn up to £ 52,000 a year, £ 6,000 more than the average salary of a lawyer in the United States. Midlands.
The union said some of the more than 70 workers it represents are paid as little as £ 22,183 a year.
The issue of wages is at the root of the strike, which took place last week between January 4 and 5.
The conflict escalated last week when Unite announced 19 more days of strike action through March.
Following the announcement, Coventry City Council said it would sort through trash collections every fortnight.
Garbage collection was scheduled to resume the week of January 18, with six drop-off sites open in the meantime for residents to drop off their trash.
On January 7, the council tweeted that it would “make sure everyone picks up their domestic bin every two weeks” as the strikes continue.
In addition to this week’s four-day strike, strike action will now take place on:
- January 18, 21, 26 and 28
- February 2, 4, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 18, 23 and 25
- March 2, 5, 9, 11, 16, 19 and 23
Coventry City Council and Unite have remained silent on the four-day strike that began today.
Neither has released a new statement ahead of the strike, but garbage truck drivers and supporters are once again expected to hold picket lines at the council’s Whitley Depot.
Coventry City Council Chief George Duggins told CoventryLive on January 7: “The public is needlessly embarrassed by the measures taken and the actions proposed, and what we are asking the union to do is to commit to significantly with ACAS, which far did not happen. “
Unite regional officer Simon O’Keefe said: “The strikes will inevitably cause considerable unrest for the people of Coventry, but this dispute is entirely the responsibility of the council.”
Coventry City Council has set up six pop-up waste disposal sites across the city where people can take their household waste.
They are as follows:
All sites will be open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., seven days a week, and you do not need to reserve a slot.
You can find more information here.
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