Great Yarmouth bin workers strike

Unite members working as refuse collectors, street cleaners, grave diggers and landscapers have gone on strike in Great Yarmouth after their demand for a reasonable pay rise was rejected.

The workers are employed by Great Yarmouth Services (GYS), an arms-length company run by Great Yarmouth Borough Council, to deliver the Norfolk seaside authority’s waste and street scene services.

They argue that a pay rise is needed not only to help in the context of the cost-of-living crisis but also considering that workers in similar roles in nearby Broadland, Norwich and Lowestoft are paid 20 per cent more.  

The council, whose Chief Executive, Shelia Oxtoby, is paid £144,016, and Executive Director – Place, Natasha Hayes, who is responsible for GYS and is paid between £99,143 and £106,666, has refused to meet Unite’s demands.

They claim that they can’t afford to give workers a significant rise as this would lead to a reduction in other services and have argued that when GYS was established in 2022, levels of pay matched the National Joint Council (NJC) award, a national system for deciding pay increases for workers in similar roles.

The council offered workers a 3 per cent pay rise, which was rejected by workers who voted for strike action, which started on Thursday, August 6, with further walkouts on Friday, August 7, Monday, August 10, Tuesday, August 11 and Wednesday, August 12 and is also being supported by GMB and UNISON members.

Unite have said that if its demands aren’t met, strike action could continue throughout the rest of the summer and potentially beyond. 

On Thursday, August 6, a picket line was formed from 6am outside GYS headquarters in Churchill Street before workers marched to the town hall in Hall Plain next to the River Yare to hold a demonstration.

On the picket line last Thursday, Unite regional officer Andreas Kuchner said that managers at GYS often behaved in an aggressive and bullying way towards workers, describing it as being “run like you would have run a business in the 70s.”

According to Kuchner, following the council’s 3 per cent offer, Unite made a counteroffer of an increase of £1.30 per worker in line with the living wage, which would have seen the wages of the lowest paid workers increase by 10 per cent.

However, despite the modest counteroffer and the fact that the union decided to deliberately not hold strike action at weekends because of the summer tourist season to minimise disruption to local businesses, the council have been reluctant to negotiate.

He said, “It’s highly disappointing that no decision-maker is available until August 18th. They say it’s difficult to have a meeting during the holiday season. We could have avoided strike action if they came around the table. It’s quite upsetting for members.

“Stop poverty pay and stop individuals using foodbanks and having to apply for Universal Credit.”

According to Kuchner, the strike was solid and well supported. He added, “Some casual workers have been called in, but some casual workers have decided to join us today.”

Unite rep Jim Wright described the “constant stench” that he and his fellow workers face while undertaking their duties for “11 pence over the minimum wage.”

He said, “Our jobs as drivers are very stressful, going down roads you wouldn’t want to take a car down and encountering rats on a daily basis. We get abuse off the general public for not taking extra rubbish, but we get in trouble with management for doing that. We can’t win with them.”

Wright added that bosses weren’t concerned with safety as they only offer “the most basic of training”, emphasising that “they don’t explain the risks of the job”.

He added that bosses at GYS aren’t interested in talking to the union even though some of the directors were supposedly on the premises at the time of the picket.

 “They haven’t talked to us in 2 years; they fob us off. They just want to pay the bare minimum. They are completely anti-trade union; they don’t want to talk to us.”

Wright explained that bosses also have a condescending, snobbish attitude towards workers, many of whom are living in poverty, arguing that they should leave if they don’t like the low wages.

“Their attitude is ‘Yarmouth doesn’t need a pay rise because it’s a poor area’. The attitude towards the staff is unacceptable. Their attitude is ‘go get a job in Tesco’. Some of the guys here are using foodbanks. It’s unacceptable.”

According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), in 2019 18.4 per cent of the population was income deprived, making it the 32nd most deprived local authority out of the 316 in England. Out of the 61 neighbourhoods in the borough, 21 were in the 20 per cent most income deprived and only 2 were in the 20 per cent least income deprived in England. 

ONS figures also show that the median average salary in the area is £28,808, well below the national median average of £33,344, reflecting the struggles the area has faced coping with the decline of tourism and the oil and gas industry.

In 2017, Great Yarmouth Trades Union Council launched a low pay campaign with Unite after writing to local holiday parks about low pay but receiving no response, which involved giving out postcards explaining the campaign and holding up a banner on the approach to Yarmouth which said, ‘welcome to a low-wage town.’

According to the Low Pay Commission in 2019, around 30 per cent of residents are economically inactive, with employment “skewed towards lower-paid occupations” with “high numbers employed in social care.”  

In early July, Unite reported that before the strike vote, council officials had told workers that they were fortunate to receive the minimum wage as the town was a ‘low wage, poverty area’ and if they didn’t like it they ‘should work for Sainsbury’s or Tesco’.

Unite regional officer Claire Lees, who was involved in the negotiations, condemned what she described as the council’s “petty attempts at intimidation and interference” which “have just made the situation worse.”

Unite member and longtime worker Dave Goodwin explained that there is a nasty culture of bullying at GYS.

“I’ve been accused of leaving of my own accord. If they don’t like you, they will try to sack you. You need to be in the union to come into work.”  

General Secretary of the General Federation of Trade Unions (GFTU), Gawain Little, who supported the workers on the picket line and at the town hall protest, said, “These are the working people who make our society function. They deserve to be paid fully. Until the council sits down and negotiates fair wages, we will be here, on the picket line, supporting Unite strikers.”  

In a separate statement, Andreas Kuchner said, “It seems the council’s leadership would rather let residents, businesses and tourists suffer a summer of rubbish than address the deeply unfair poverty pay rates these essential workers are expected to survive on. The only ones thanking the council for causing these strikes will be the seagulls and the rats. Strike action can still be avoided, but that will require an acceptable offer.”

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said, “These workers are doing heavy, smelly work in all weathers to keep Great Yarmouth clean and tidy. Their current of rate of pay is an insult and needs to improve. Unite is supporting these workers all the way in their fight for fair wages.”

Text and photo by Sean Meleady