Review sought of move to privatise bin service

UNIONS REPRESENTING binmen have asked the Labour Relations Commission to review Dublin City Council’ s decision to privatise household bin collections in two months’ time.

Some council bin collectors have said they will move directly to industrial action and “bring the city to a standstill” if the council stops its refuse collections.

A total of 159 council workers were this week issued with a letter with their payslips informing them the council was withdrawing from the service from December 5th and offering redeployment within the local authority.

The city council has in recent years staunchly resisted privatisation of the household refuse collection service, which has been in operation for almost 150 years.

It is now, however, the only local authority in the greater Dublin region not to have privatised waste collection.

The council has been losing about €10 million a year on its household waste collection service largely due to the provision of waivers to more than 40,000 low-income households.

The losses have been increasing steadily as the number of households entitled to a waiver has grown while the number of full-paying customers defecting to private collectors has also risen.

Assistant city manager Séamus Lyons said the council would lose an additional €1.5 million in 2012 if it continued to collect bins and this cost would “pretty much double” in subsequent years.

The losses were no longer sustainable given the economic circumstances and the pressures on the city’s budget, he said.

“The service will be restructured so that Dublin City Council will no longer collect domestic or commercial rubbish from the 5th of December next.”

The council had decided it would sell its customer list to a private operator, Mr Lyons said. It had received a number of expressions of interest from private waste companies but had yet to choose a provider.

He said he was aware that the unions representing bin workers had “fundamental problems” with the council’s decision but there was little point in seeking conciliation through the Labour Relations Commission.

“The management decision has been made so there is nothing to conciliate. The likelihood is that it will go straight to the Labour Court.”

Impact and Siptu, the unions representing the 159 workers, more than 100 of whom collect bins, with the remainder working in an administrative capacity, said the council’s decision would have a negative effect on the city, its people and the environment.

Particularly at risk would be the council customers currently in receipt of waivers. The environment would also suffer with a likely increase in illegal dumping by residents unable to meet increased charges, the unions said.

A group of workers calling themselves “DCC binmen” has gone further, threatening to strike if the council does not reverse its decision. In an e-mail circulated to all councillors, the group said the council was in breach of the Croke Park agreement.

“We feel we are well within our rights to ignore the Croke Park agreement also and take industrial action if necessary,” the e-mail said.

“We’ll bring the city to a standstill if we have to and we feel we will have the backing of the majority of the general public once they are made aware of the situation. If private companies try to come in and do the work, it’ll get very nasty.”