Liverpool's binmen fight redundancies
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• Refuse collection workers in Liverpool have begun a work-torule in protest at council plans to impose compulsory redundancies — some residents in the city have not had their rubbish collected for six weeks following previous action.
Trade Unions had already agreed to Liverpool Council axeing 130 jobs in the cleansing department (CM 25 April1 May) but a row broke out when it was announced that 11 of these would be compulsory redundancies.
Binmen are refusing to move the backlog of rubbish until the threat of compulsory redundancies is lifted.
According to Liverpool Council the backlog built up during recent industrial action which included a three-day strike.
"Some people have not had their bins emptied for six weeks because of this action," it says.
The council says it is "certainly possible" that councillors who voted for the cuts package are being singled out by the protesters and are not having their bins emptied.
A local newspaper, Mersey Mart, has published the names and phone numbers of the councillors who voted for the redundancy measures. The paper has urged readers to lobby in support of the hinmen.
Refuse collection is subject to compulsory competitive tendering with a new contract scheduled to be in place by 1 August.