UNION REPRESENTATIVES in the four Dublin local authorities have arranged to extend the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown bin collection dispute if talks fail to resolve the row about outsourcing to private waste collectors.
About 40 Siptu shop stewards met yesterday at Liberty Hall to consider their options. Talks continue tomorrow between the council and the union at the Labour Relations Commission.
Details were not revealed, but options are understood to include protest marches and extending the ballot on industrial action to other sectors in the council to seek their support. Waste collection workers in all four local authorities have balloted for such action following a decision by the council to outsource the service.
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown has deferred signing contracts with a private contractor while the talks are ongoing.
After yesterday’s meeting, Siptu called on managers of the four Dublin authorities to honour the agreement terms to develop waste disposal services in the metropolitan area. Local authorities have expressed surprise at the union’s comments while talks are ongoing.
But Ramon O’Reilly, Siptu’s county council branch manager, said Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council had reneged twice on commitments made at the commission. While 26 bin collection workers are directly affected in the dispute, up to 1,000 personnel are engaged in waste services across the four local authorities.
He said waste collection was fragmented, and private contractors were offering six months’ free collection, after which “when the local authority is out of the picture they can make a deal with each other” and prices will rise.
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