Waste workers make a stink

City of Sydney Council has come under a double-barrelled attack over changes made to its waste-contracting arrangements.

The Transport Workers Union (TWU) alleges waste workers lost their jobs and were informed by the new contractor they could reapply for them for a wage loss of around $200 per week.

They also say workers are being pressured to move away from unions towards workchoices style one-on-one negation of contracts.

Council switched from previous contractor Veolia to current provider United Resources Management (URM) in March of this year.

A TWU representative told City News workers lost their jobs under the new contractor and were offered them back at a significant reduction in pay.

“When URM started they offered the workers their jobs back, minus about $200 per week,” she said.

“They were basically given the choice to take the drop in pay or join the dole queue.”

Waste worker John Robinson is quoted on the TWU webpage.

“There’s no way you can take a $200 pay cut. Is your interest rate going down too? Your rent? Your electricity bill? No way. How can you justify a pay cut when everything else is going up?” he says.

Meanwhile residents have complained of their garbage being collected late or not at all and reports of recycling being thrown in with regular trash.

President of the Darlinghurst Residents Action Group, Jo Holder, said there has been a noticeable decrease in the quality of service since the change.

“In Kings Cross, garbage sits in the street after lunch with bins overflowing,” she said.

“Buildings have become garbage tips because residents have to store their waste as it piles up.

“Under Veolia [previous contractor] all garbage was collected by 9am.”

Ms Holder said the change demonstrated Sydney Council had an error in priorities.

“Clover spends a lot of money on these vote-winning PR developments like the $20 million she’s spending on Fitzroy Gardens,” she said.

“But then on the other hand she’s neglecting basic workers services and conditions.”

A City of Sydney spokesperson said The City has no control over salaries paid by its contractors.

“Wage rates are set by Federal and State awards and the TWU was a party to the negotiations for a Federal award,” they said.

“The City cannot legally compel URM to negotiate a separate enterprise agreement for transferred workers.”

The representative said The City receives around 20 complaints per week about garbage collection which are responded to promptly, and acted upon to solve any issues within 24 hours of the complaint.

“Any claim that City streets are littered with rubbish or that garbage is piling up in the streets is ridiculous and utterly without foundation,” they said.

A spokesperson for URM informed City News all questions regarding this issue would be forwarded to Council and that URM is prevented from commenting as a condition of their contract with the City.

By Simon Black