Tories challenge Labour’s support for Brighton bin dispute

Brighton and Hove Conservatives challenge Labour group leader to explain his position on the ongoing Cityclean dispute.

THE challenge was issued to Cllr Warren Morgan after colleagues in the Withdean Labour branch expressed support for the strike action on Twitter.

The Withdean Labour tweet said: “We believe that fair pay must recognise workers’ skills. This is why we support #Brighton #Hove bin lorry drivers @GMBSussexBranch.”

The GMB Trade Union has announced another day of strike action in its long-running dispute with the Council over the pay grading of refuse truck drivers. This is on top of an ongoing work-to-rule.

A job evaluation panel recently ruled that the drivers are on the correct pay grade for the work that they carry out.

Conservative Group Leader, Cllr. Geoffrey Theobald, said: “In the light of these comments, Labour Leader Warren Morgan owes it to residents to clearly spell out his position on this ongoing strike action. Does he or does he not agree with the Withdean Ward Labour candidates? If he has pretensions to lead this Council after May then residents have the right to know whether they can expect further disruption to their bin collections. I have always had concerns that Labour’s financial links to the Trade Unions would colour their judgement on matters such as this and the comments of his colleagues in Withdean Ward would suggest that a future Labour administration would immediately cave in to the demands of the Union bosses.”

Cllr Morgan responded, saying: “We don’t support the strike, we support an early resolution to the dispute and we want better ways of resolving problems that cause regular disruptions to the services residents pay for. We want an in-house refuse and recycling service that is efficient, gives residents the service they expect, returns recycling to the levels we need, and gives staff decent pay and good opportunities. We need a service that businesses can trust to collect commercial waste so that we can bring in revenue to offset cuts.

“Unlike the Conservatives, who are obsessed with scoring petty party-political points over this, we have ideas and the will to deliver a better service for residents and staff.”