Domestic garbage bins remained full across the Coast on Thursday, March 23, as the local Remondis garbage truck operators held a 24-hour stoppage as part of their ongoing campaign to keep current wages and conditions.
Mr Richard Olsen, Secretary of the Transport Workers’ Union of NSW (TWU) said: “Representatives of the TWU …met with Central Coast Council along with a representative from the NSW Government.
“The TWU had high hopes that this meeting would resolve or go a long way towards resolving the current dispute,” he said.
The garbage truck operators are employed by Remondis and their wages and conditions are set by an industrial agreement with Remondis, which is the Central Coast’s current waste collection contractor.
That contract is up for renewal in February 2018, and workers are concerned that, because their current industrial agreement with Remondis has expired, in order to retain its contract with the Central Coast Council, Remondis will cut wages and conditions so it can compete with other operators on price.
As a result the TWU has asked Central Coast Council to include a clause in its tender documents for the new waste services contract to guarantee the current wages and conditions of drivers.
Mr Olsen said both Central Coast Council’s Administrator, Mr Ian Reynolds, and Chief Executive Officer, Mr Rob Noble were present at the latest meeting with the union.
“They were … standing firm to their original position that Council would not provide any job security to our members nor would they maintain their current conditions in a waste contract tender,” he said.
Source:
Media release,
Mar 23, 2017
Colin Henderson, Transport Workers’ Union of NSW