'No agreement' - GMB fire back at South Tyneside Council amid 'bullying' culture claims

The GMB union have refuted claims they agreed to no further strike action in the South Tyneside refuse collection dispute.

South Tyneside Council issued a lengthy statement on Friday setting out their disappointment that the people of the borough would again have to go without their bins being collected. Strikes are set to take place between May 1-14.

They also used the opportunity to take aim at GMB over their handling of the dispute, claiming an agreement for no further strike action was set in place earlier this month.

The council said: “The GMB union has notified the council of its intention to undertake further strike action 1 - 14 May 2024 inclusive. This is despite positive ACAS talks last month and a detailed action plan being agreed by all trade unions and the workforce to move forward. This also comes after explicit agreement by the unions on 4th April 2024 not to strike further until the action plan is given time to succeed.”

FULL STORY: South Tyneside set for more bin strikes - and it could last another SIX months

However, GMB have responded to that with a counterclaim, saying no such agreement was ever in place. They’ve also clarified the council have known about next week’s action for nearly TWO weeks.

In a statement, GMB said: “As we were unable to resolve the ongoing dispute with South Tyneside Council over the last 6 months, the GMB are legally obliged to re-ballot our members, to continue to make the dispute lawful. We have recently done that and our members have voted 96% in favour of further strike action, which we notified the Council almost 2 weeks ago.

“Whilst we acknowledge the joint working that has been taking place to address the many areas of mismanagement in the service, we were unable to resolve the main area of the dispute relating to the allegations of bullying and the culture that exists in the service.

“There was absolutely no agreement with the unions from our meeting on 4 April to halt any further industrial action, this position was clearly communicated to the Chief Executive on 5 April, so we fundamentally disagree with the council’s statement on this matter.”

While the people of South Tyneside are again being primed for another week of disruption - with the council warning this dispute could last up to six months - GMB have outlined their stance that they are keen to find a resolution for their members.

The statement continues: “We are disappointed to have to take further action and will always explore avenues of resolution to bring this dispute to an end, but our members have to be certain that they will not be subject to any more bullying at work, and we will continue to negotiate with management until we can get to that position.”