South Tyneside Council and GMB row over bin strike independent investigation outcome

South Tyneside Council has refuted a social media post from GMB over the outcome of its independent investigation into allegations of bullying and mismanagement within its Waste Department.

The local authority has stated that the union has publicly shared details of the outcome online when it was made clear to them that it could compromise the appeal process.

On Tuesday, January 23, the Council has hit out at GMB for "misleading" residents in the borough and has clarified its position on the matters raised.

A spokesperson for the Council commented: "GMB issued a communication via social media on Monday, January 22, 2024, in relation to the ongoing industrial action and investigation outcome.

"The contents of this communication are misleading and South Tyneside Council would like to clarify a number of matters raised and set out our position.

"The residents of South Tyneside deserve to know the facts.

"Any grievance like the one raised in Waste Services is treated as confidential for the benefit of all parties involved and the Council has made every effort to respect that process.

"However, communication such as GMB’s recent statement risks undermining internal processes such as any appeal, which should be considered without external pressure on those who are required to consider them.

"The Council made it clear to Trade Unions upon the sharing of the outcome report that if any of the contents of that report were shared publicly, there was a potential for the appeal process to be compromised.

"The Council thought that this was well understood by all parties. The GMB’s actions may put at risk the viability of any appeal process.

"To date, the council has held back from commenting in detail to ensure that the full and thorough investigation was not prejudiced in any way.

"However, the Council is now being placed in a position where it has taken the decision to reluctantly respond to the inaccurate statements made by the GMB.

"Whilst the council has tried to observe the process, it cannot continue to ignore the inaccurate information being put into the public domain without correction."

In the statement from South Tyneside Council, the local authority have outlined the below as facts:

• The original collective grievance, submitted in June 2023, did not include any allegations of bullying and mismanagement. The grievance specifically cited finishing on time, the size of rounds and said that it sought consistency in the way leave was allocated.
• South Tyneside Council delivered on its promise to conduct an independent investigation as part of its ‘Resolving Issues at Work Policy’, which took place in Autumn 2023. The Council stated that less than one fifth of waste operatives that submitted concerns (10/52) chose to take part in the process.
• The local authority states that it has always been clear that the independent investigation report would be considered by the Director of Place and Communities in reaching his decision on whether the grounds of the grievance are upheld, and this reflected the applicable council policies. The report was considered that the outcome was shared with Trade Unions and the individuals involved with the grievance in January 2024.
• In GMB's social media communication, it stated that "seven out of nine allegations were upheld or partially upheld by the independent investigator". South Tyneside Council has stated that it is important to none that none of the nine lines of enquiry mentioned the word "bullying".
• South Tyneside Council has repeatedly offers to meet with Trade Union representatives to resolve the dispute. The local authority says it is committed to "ongoing dialogue and discussion" with Trade Unions to resolve these issues and bring an end to the disruption caused to residents. It confirmed that it will continue to make efforts to work with Trade Unions to find an appropriate and amicable resolution.
• The Council reiterated that ACAS conciliation was planned for early December but the unions walked away from that before it was even given a chance to commence.
• The current strike action started before any investigation had been completed and before any conciliation could take place. The Council has stated that it asked for this to be considered on a number of occasions. The first strike was planned by the GMB to coincide with anti-bullying week despite bullying not being on the original grievance nor raised during the investigation, something which the Council says "can only be viewed as a publicity stunt".

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The Council has also asked its elected members to take a neutral stance over issues surrounding the ongoing industrial action so that they are able to discharge their duties, if called upon, regarding any appeals process.

South Tyneside Council has confirmed that it will continue to look to bring an end to the industrial action dispute.

The spokesperson added: "In summary, this has been and should continue to be an internal HR process with a clear policy that the council has tried to respect throughout.

"The outcome of the report should be confidential.

"However, GMB appear to have ignored parts of the process and have elected to publish information about the grievance and the report that is inaccurate and risks prejudicing the ongoing process.

"As we have always said, our people are our strongest asset, and our waste services operatives are much valued members of the Council's workforce serving on the frontline, supporting 72,000 households, and emptying 6.5 million bins every year.

"The Council remains ready to resolve this through conciliation and repeat our plea to union representatives to come to the table to put an end to the dispute."

Mark Wilson, GMB regional organiser, has told the Shields Gazette that the union disagrees with the Council's statement and claims that the local authority is withholding evidence from GMB.

He commented: "I dispute the contents of South Tyneside Council's (STC) statement, and disagree with their version of what was agreed.

"The grievance has nine elements to it, referring to micromanagement, favouritism, fear of reprisals etc, all of which are various forms of bullying.

"The Council have stuck to the ridiculous position that if it specifically doesn't mention the word bullying in it, then they don't regard it as bullying.

"We have had many disagreements about this matter and our belief is that the Council are choosing deliberately ignore the serious allegations being brought by our members.

"Many members came forward to give evidence individually, that were given to the independent investigator, this has been withheld, along with the independent report. 

"We disagree with the Council's view that they have repeatedly offered to meet with us, we did agree to use the services of ACAS, but only when we'd had the outcome of the independent report, which to date, we still have not received.

"The Council confirmed that outside of the report they would not be making any offers of resolution, rendering the ACAS meetings pointless.

"Until about 30 minutes ago I've had no communications from anyone in STC offering to meet to resolve the dispute.

"They have allowed the action to take place and it is absolutely disgusting to suggest that GMB members would take part in strike action as part of a 'publicity stunt'. 

"This undermines the seriousness of the allegations our members are making and proves to us that the Council are denying the reality of what their workers are claiming.

"They choose not to believe their workforce when they are desperate for the bullying to cease."

Workers within the Council's Waste Department are currently on strike for the third time, starting from today (Tuesday, January, 23) and lasting until Friday, January 26, inclusive.