Sydney is about to get Stink-ney, as well as Victoria, ‘cos waste collection workers will be walking off the job, leaving at least 22,000 bins uncollected.
In an updated post by the City of Sydney, residents will experience a delayed collection of their red, yellow and green lid bins on Wednesday, May 17, due to a 24-hour waste workers strike.
“We know how important waste services are and our crews are doing all they can to stay on top of things, but we expect collections to be delayed by around 48 hours for the rest of the week,” the City of Sydney wrote on their website.
City of Sydney residents may experience delays in the collection of red, yellow and green lid bins, plus bulky waste, from Wednesday 17 May.
This is due to 48-hour stop-work industrial action by some employees of our waste collection contractor Cleanaway. (cont) 1/2 pic.twitter.com/YDJQu44sss
— City of Sydney (@cityofsydney) May 17, 2023
Per News.com.au, the industrial action will also affect some commercial contracts in the ‘Gong and for the first time, waste workers in five Victorian local councils will also strike in an effort to improve workers’ rights. This will be the sixth time waste collection workers will be walking off the job in Sydney.
According to the Transport Workers’ Union of Australia (TWU) website, council areas including the City of Sydney, Greater Geelong City Council, Surf Coast Shire, Golden Plains Shire Council, City of Moonee Valley, and City of Hobsons Bay will be impacted by these strikes.
“The strikes follow multiple others in NSW, Queensland, WA and ACT in recent weeks as workers face attempts by Cleanaway to strip back overtime entitlements and extend rosters, forcing workers to work weekends for less take-home pay,” the TWU said.
According to Daily Mail Australia, Sydney garbos are demanding a five per cent pay increase, claiming that workers are already $4 to $6 per hour behind other Cleanaway workers.
Richard Olsen, the NSW/QLD Secretary for the TWU, claimed Cleanaway had “engaged in conduct that hindered good faith negotiations” and that they’ve “pushed essential workers’ pay and condition backwards.”
Olsen said: “We have continued to stand strong against their attempts to rush through a bad deal and will continue to push back. We will not accept an agreement that continues to hurt hundreds of hardworking families.”
The TWU claimed that Cleanaway’s local government clients have a responsibility to ensure that waste workers have fair and reasonable working conditions but City of Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore had refused the workers’ requests.
“The City of Sydney Lord Mayor, Clover Moore continues to refuse to stand against these attacks on pay and conditions,” Olsen said
“Our members don’t want to continue to take protected action and continue to inconvenience their community, but the council continues to fail to intervene, which can only be seen as an endorsement of Cleanaway’s behaviour.”
According to News.com.au, Olsen has called upon NSW’s Local Government Minister Ron Hoenig to intervene and “facilitate a decent outcome for these workers”. However, Hoenig said it was a matter for the parties involved.
“Negotiating a fair outcome is in the best interests of both workers their employers and the residents of the council area,” Hoenig said.
In their updated post, the City of Sydney mentioned that they’re “not involved in negotiations.”
“The industrial action is between our domestic waste contractor, Cleanaway, and some of its employees who are members of the Transport Workers Union.
“We’re hopeful the matter will be resolved swiftly with an outcome that works for all parties.”
How about giving these workers the pay and working conditions they deserve?
