Bin-men pay problem causing backlog

Date published: 20/07/2007

Waste collection has suffered a week of disruption in the Rochdale borough due a pay dispute between bin collecting staff and Rochdale Council. Many rounds have been left unfinished as waste staff have decided to work to rule. Further problems are envisaged for next week.

Work to rule is a form of industrial action whereby employees work strictly according to the legal terms of their contract of employment, resulting in a slowing-down of the work process.

The reason for this work to rule is that the council has put forward proposals to revise pay arrangements.

The Council expects that this situation will continue for at least the next week and during that time they can not guarantee prompt collections.

They claim to be working hard to resolve this issue and are using additional staff to ensure that the backlogs are cleared as quickly as possible and have issued an apology to the public for any disruption caused.