Agenda item

To consider any questions or statements received from members of the public.

Two members of the public had requested to speak, Mr Martin Booth and Mr David Russell.

The Chairman invited Mr Booth to speak first. He said that he was Secretary of the North Norfolk Trade Union Council and was speaking on behalf of its members:

‘As the Council is presumably aware, there is currently a dispute involving refuse collectors in North Norfolk, currently employed by the private contractors Serco. We understand that these workers, who are highly valued by our community and who worked tirelessly through the pandemic, are currently being paid at or not much above the minimum wage and have been offered a rise far below the current rate of inflation. Clearly any dispute would have a serious impact on this vital service, so as the contracting authority we would like the Council to address these questions:

1. As the single contract covers 3 local authorities, how much autonomy does NNDC have to intervene in any dispute that would settle things for NNDC workers, if Breckland and Kings Lynn & West Norfolk resist such a conciliatory approach?

2. Given that waste contracts are being taken out of private company hands in nearby local authorities (Gt Yarmouth Borough Council and East Suffolk Council) can NNDC explore this as an option so as to take back direct control of services NNDC residents rely on? Both councils have or are setting up their own Local Authority Trading Company.

3. Have NNDC political leaders and/or officers met with the workforce to get an accurate picture of the feelings amongst the workers they have a responsibility for as commissioner of this service? They have met UNISON officials but at the time of writing have yet to take up the offer to meet with the local union reps at the Aylsham depot.

4. Does NNDC have the ability to increase the budget on this contract to ensure the NNDC element of it pays the Real Living Wage or would NNDC have to wait until the contract is re-tendered to be able to stipulate this as a requirement of the service provider?

Mr Booth concluded that there was currently a live ballot of union members and unless an improved offer was received, there was the very real possibility of waste collectors going on strike.

The Leader thanked Mr Booth for his questions. He said that he took the matter very seriously. However, Serco was the provider of a service on behalf of the Council and NNDC was not responsible for pay. He confirmed that officers had been in contact with Serco but the Council could not get involved in the negotiations with Serco employees. He said he understood that Kings Lynn depot had accepted the earlier pay offer. He said that based on the pay offer shared with the Council by Serco, it was above inflation and would be backdated to April 2022 and this would see Serco employees on rates above the Living Wage.

He said that the Council was not currently at a point where it could consider taking waste collection services back in-house. The current contract still had some way to run. Regarding an increase in the Council’s budget to pay the Living Wage, he said that the offer currently being made by Serco was above the Living Wage. In addition, any variation to the terms of the contract would have to be agreed by the three councils involved.

He said that he was happy to meet with both speakers to discuss the matters raised this evening.

The Chairman then invited Mr D Russell, Vice Chairman of North Norfolk Trade Union Council to speak.

Mr Russell began by setting out the current rates and offers by Serco:

·         HGV drivers received an hourly rate of £11.50 and were being offered £13.50

·         7.5 tonne drivers received £11.82 an hour and were being offered £12.75 ph

·         3.5 tonne drivers received £11.20 ph and were being offered £12.25 ph.

·         Operatives & loaders at the Aylsham dept received £9.50 ph and were offered £11.00 ph

Mr Russell said that he understood that the Council had been in discussion with Serco about this but that it remained unresolved. He asked for an explanation as to why this was the case. He said from personal experience, his bins had previously been emptied regularly on a Monday and now, following a change to the collection dates, they were collected at random times on a Wednesday.

Mr Russell said that the Council’s responsibilities were twofold:

1.    To ensure that the bins were emptied as per its contract with Serco

2.    To monitor this to ensure that it happened

He said that workers could not be blamed for any changes to the service.

In conclusion, Mr Russell said that if Serco were not complying with the terms of the contract, the Council must have a clause for termination which would allow them to take on the provision of the refuse collection service corporately. He asked if this was the case, why did they not do so.

The Leader thanked Mr Russell for his comments. He said that there were two issues raised. He said that there was the possibility of performance related reductions if the provided was not meeting the specifications of the contract but he did not connect this matter to the ongoing pay negotiations. He then said that he was personally supportive of the waste collection staff receiving a pay increase. He hoped that a resolution could be reached soon, however, he stressed that they were not NNDC staff and the Council had no remit to become involved in any pay negotiations. He reiterated his offer to meet with Mr Booth and Mr Russell to discuss the matter further.