Labour Punishes Bin Workers & Protects Bosses

Last night Thanet District Council’s Labour-controlled Cabinet escalated its shameful bullying and scapegoating of TDCs hard working  refuse workers  by cracking down on their conditions of employment whilst leaving the bosses,  who caused the simpler recycling disaster, free from any sanctions.

The draconian measures, which single out front line refuse collection staff,  which were approved by the Labour Cabinet, including cleansing and waste management services boss, councillor Steve Albon, include -

● The enforcement of stringent corporate controls governing holiday allocations and seasonal scheduling.

● An independent Peer Review of the entire Cleansing Service commissioned by the Director of Environment, which will focus on service standards and service efficiency.

● The rigorous enforcement of the council’s Absence Management Policy to reduce staff absence rates in Cleansing Services.

This is nothing less than a punishment beating for staff who are not responsible for TDCs recycling chaos and a get out of gaol free card for those who were.

One Council. One workforce. Double Standards

The question must be asked whether the Cabinet was fair and reasonable in making its harsh decision.

Yes it is true that TDC’s cleansing and waste service is estimated to overspend its budget by £788k due in part to the simpler recycling fiasco, but the Environmental Service Directorate in which cleansing and waste services are located  is estimated to have a total overspend of  £918k.

Strangely the staff in the other loss making areas of Environmental Services are not facing restrictions on the taking holidays, working hours patterns, a rigorous enforcement of absence policy, or having an independent review focusing on service standards and efficiency imposed upon them. Why?

Likewise, The Chief Executive Department is expected to overspend by £200k, Corporate Services by £262k,  Planning and Building  Control £330K,  Maritime & Technical Services £200k once again those working in these areas are not facing restrictions on the taking holidays, working hours patterns, a rigorous enforcement of absence policy, or having an independent review focusing on service standards and efficiency imposed upon them. Why?

There's only one answer - that refuse collection workers are being singled out for scapegoating, bullying , and punishment for the  failure and collapse of the simple recycling system, even though there isn’t a shred of evidence to suggest that these hard working employees were responsible for the disaster.

The workforce looses faith whilst Labour councillors provoke

Its clear that the council’s bin workers have had enough and who can blame them? More than 50 GMB members are in an indicative industrial action ballot that closes on 4 September, with a full strike ballot to follow if it succeeds.

The union has lodged a collective grievance. GMB Organiser Frank Macklin has said his members “have lost all faith in the council being able to run the service properly” and that “we will not allow the workforce to be scapegoated and blamed for the current failings in the Cleansing Service” (Isle of Thanet News).

The Labour Cabinet knew all about this before it sat down last night. Yet it t voted for this discriminatory and grossly unfair  crackdown on its bin workers anyway. If you wanted to make a decision which is  guaranteed to turn a ballot into a strike, this ridiculous decision is the best way to do it.

What I am asking every councillor to do

This is a test of whether Thanet’s councillors will stand up for the lowest-paid, hardest-working staff on the payroll, or nod through a framework that penalizes them for management’s failures. Councillors must-

●       Demand parity. Either the same stringent controls, the same rigorous enforcement and the same independent review apply to every service that overspent — including maritime, port and planning etc — or they apply to none.

●       Widen the Peer Review’s terms of reference. It must cover the decision to abandon the approved phasing, the resourcing assumptions behind it, and working conditions on the rounds. Anything narrower is an exercise in blame allocation.

●       Meet the GMB before 4 September. The grievance is already lodged. Ignoring it until a strike ballot lands is not good management, it is negligence.

●       Publish what the crackdown is worth. Tell residents how much money enforcing absence policy and restricting holidays is actually forecast to save, against the £788,000 overspend cited in the Cabinet report. Then let the public judge the priorities.

Where I stand

As a former Thanet District Council councillor and a Green Party member, I will publicly support any lawful action Thanet’s bin workers choose to take. I hope Green Party councillors and the wider public will do the same.

These crews have spent four months absorbing abuse on the doorstep for a failure made in a meeting room they were never been invited into. They have been short of vehicles, short of crews, short of time and short of any redesign of the rounds they were told to deliver. Now, on top of that, they are to be policed harder and rested less, while nobody responsible loses so much as a day’s pay.

That is not good management. It's bullying, scapegoating and discrimination. Thanet’s councillors, irrespective of party, should refuse to be part of it.