Bin strike in prospect 2024

Summary of Edinburgh's threatened bin strike and what it would mean, including what happened in 2022.   31-07-24.

Transcript

00:00There has been talk for weeks about a possible bin strike in Edinburgh. Now unions have set

00:06the date. Unless their pay dispute can be settled, they will begin an eight-day strike

00:11at 5am on Wednesday, August 14th. As bins go unemptied, rubbish will soon start piling

00:19up in the street. And of course, this is the worst time of year for such disruption, when

00:25the festival and the fringe are in full swing, and the city is packed with visitors. It's

00:31a repeat of August 2022, when bin crews staged a 12-day strike, and there were mounds of

00:37rubbish everywhere. So what will happen if the strike goes ahead? Rubbish will not be

00:44collected, domestic waste and recycling bins will not be emptied, and neither will public

00:50litter bins. Streets will not be swept, recycling centres will be closed, bulky uplifts will

00:57be cancelled, and public toilets will also be closed. The council is advising residents

01:05that once bins are full, they should store their rubbish at home, or in their back green

01:09or garden, rather than adding to the piles in the street. Food waste should be double-bagged

01:16and kept as cool as possible, and the council says dog poo should also be double-bagged

01:21and taken home. Edinburgh is likely to be the focus of most attention during the strike

01:28because it is happening during festival time, but the dispute and the action is Scotland-wide,

01:34as was the 2022 strike. The unions say the current dispute has arisen because the offer

01:40made to them fails to match the one for council workers south of the border. The dispute two

01:47years ago came as inflation reached 10.1 per cent, the highest for four decades. The unions

01:54had rejected offers of 2 and then 3.5 per cent, and called a 12-day stoppage. The walkout

02:01started on August 18th and ended on August 30th. Other council staff were involved in

02:08action too, and further strikes were planned, but negotiations led to a settlement in early

02:14September with the lowest paid council workers receiving 10 per cent.