Hills Municipal Collections has been made aware of a further allegation of a picketer being struck by a vehicle. All our vehicles have on-board camera recording systems and the alleged incident is being investigated and footage has been made available to the Police.

Hills have an excellent road safety record and take all health and safety matters very seriously. All our employees are fully aware of the recent update to the Highway Code. Clear guidance on crossing picket lines was issued to all Hills employees, customers and suppliers in advance of the industrial action.

This most recent alleged incident was reported to have taken placed on our Lower Compton site and is not identified by the GMB Union as a picket line location.

A Hills spokesperson said: “We are aware that there have been similar alleged incidents at other sites. We strongly request that organisers and supervisors of the pickets show respect to all parties’ safety and welfare. We are liaising with the Police over these incidents and will continue to review whether criminal and or civil laws are being breached and if so, what recourse is available to us.”

“In the instances referred to above people have been attempting to prevent vehicles from leaving Hills facilities, this is a breach of the regulations governing lawful picketing. Hills regret that we have had to resort to requesting Police assistance at our depots as this unnecessary waste of Police time and taxpayers’ money could be avoided if the actions of the picket lines had been conducted in accordance with picketing regulations. The vast majority of staff want to do the day’s work that they are paid for, and this type of action is stopping people who have a right to work.”

“We would encourage Hills employees who are on the pickets to distance themselves from the shameful behaviour seen at the sites in the past week. We are here to negotiate with the GMB Union when they are prepared to negotiate. All employees currently on the pickets will be welcomed back at work at any time.”

“The action on the picket lines restricting movement of our vehicles has impacted our ability to provide household waste collections services and we would like to thank the residents of Wiltshire for their understanding.”

Hills Municipal Collections can confirm that employees who are members of UNITE have been balloted and have agreed to accept the company’s reviewed pay offer.

This means that two of the three unions in the Tri-Union recognition agreement have accepted the 7.1% pay rise offered and will not be taking part in the current strike action with GMB union members.

A spokesperson for Hills said: “We are really pleased that UNITE members were able to come to this decision as the offer we put forward provides a fair settlement in relation to inflation and indexation, which we know is impacting the cost of living. The offer is in line or ahead of comparable local pay awards and it provides positive certainty in a time of increasing volatility.”

Employees who have accepted the offer will receive a pay increase of at least 2% backdated to October 2021, with an additional 5% pay rise from 1 March 2022. The annual pay review date has also been brought forward from October 2022 to May 2022, with the next annual pay review due to take place in May 2023.

The offer was also accepted by UNISON membership last week, but has been rejected by the GMB union whose members are on strike for two weeks.

Yesterday morning GMB Union representatives blockaded both the Stephenson Road, Churchfields Depot in Salisbury and the Riverway Depot in Trowbridge stopping waste collection vehicles and staff from leaving the sites.

It is therefore very worrying and disappointing to hear reports that two striking pickets were allegedly struck by a vehicle attempting to legally exit from a depot. We are extremely relieved that no serious injury has been caused to the two individuals.

The incident is being investigated, including a review of the vehicle footage, and the matter has been reported to Wiltshire Police.

Preventing vehicles from leaving any Hills depot is a clear breach of the regulations governing lawful picketing. Clear guidance on crossing picket lines was issued to all Hills employees, customers and suppliers in advance of the industrial action.

Due to the impact of ongoing industrial action, Wiltshire Council and Hills Municipal Collections have made the decision to temporarily suspend recycling services in the county for two weeks, in order to prioritise household residual waste collections.

The current industrial action has impacted the county’s waste collection services. This has had a knock-on effect for other collections during the coming days.

As a result of this action, Wiltshire Council and Hills have decided to suspend emptying recycling bins across the county for two weeks, with the service expected to resume again week beginning 21 March. If people have already put out their black boxes and blue lidded bins they should take them back in until their next scheduled collection date. When recycling collections do resume, the waste teams will accept additional recycling materials that have been stockpiled during this time. This means people will be able to leave out additional materials in separate bags/suitable containers by their bins if they can’t fit it in their containers.

Cllr Dr Mark McClelland, Wiltshire Council Cabinet Member for waste, said: “Despite the industrial action, we still have managed to complete many waste rounds across the county, and we thank people for their patience as we look to catch-up on those missed residual household waste collections as quickly as possible, and these have to be the priority.

“Due to the position of the pickets at Churchfields, it meant that frustratingly no vehicles were able to get through at that depot on Monday, which resulted in police being called to the site. This has had a knock-on effect on our collection services. Similar difficulties with vehicles being blocked from leaving were experienced at the Riverway depot early on Tuesday morning.

“We always expected that collections during this period were going to be fluid and we apologise for the inconvenience this is causing, but we’re doing everything we can to minimise the disruption during this complex and unprecedented time.

“One of our contingency plans, which we hoped we wouldn’t need to implement, was to temporarily suspend recycling services. This means we can prioritise general waste collections, and people should leave their general waste bin out at 7am on their usual collection day, and it will be emptied – though it may be a day or so late.

“We know it’s not ideal but we ask that people keep their kerbside recycling back and take their black boxes and blue lidded bins in until their scheduled collection day after 21 March, or please take the materials to your nearest household recycling centre, as they are operating as normal.

“This dispute is between Hills and the GMB Union, and we hope it is resolved as quickly as possible, so residents can continue to benefit from the range of collections we provide.”

This change does not affect general household waste or garden waste collections. People are asked to continue to put out their household waste and garden waste bins on their scheduled collection day by 7am, and if they’re not collected, to leave them out and where possible they will be collected the next day.

Picket line blocks vehicles from leaving Hills Municipal Collections’ sites

This morning GMB Union representatives blockaded both the Stephenson Road, Churchfields Depot in Salisbury and the Riverway Depot in Trowbridge stopping waste collection vehicles and staff from leaving the sites.

This is a clear breach of the regulations governing lawful picketing, with GMB Union representatives standing in front of the lorries as they tried to leave the depots.

It should be noted that the action by the GMB Union today follows their rejection of a pay rise offer equal to a minimum of 7.1% from 1 March 2022 and includes a backdate of between 2% and 10% from October 2021.

We are liaising with Wiltshire Police and Wiltshire Council and would like to assure residents we are doing everything possible to minimise disruption to household waste collection services in the County.

Hills Municipal Collections latest pay offer has been rejected by members of the GMB Union and notification has been given that strike action affecting household waste and recycling collections in Wiltshire will commence on Monday 7 March for two weeks. The number of union members who are likely to strike has been reduced following UNISON members accepting the pay deal. Hills Municipal Collections is also awaiting Unite Union’s response to the offer which is due next week.

A spokesperson for Hills said: “This is a very disappointing outcome, we have moved our offer considerably over the previous weeks and we firmly believe that the pay offer provides a fair settlement in relation to inflation and indexation, which we know is impacting the cost of living. The offer is in line or ahead of comparable local pay awards and it provides positive certainty in a time of increasing volatility.

Hills Municipal Collections teams will work with Wiltshire Council to minimise disruption to household collection services. This industrial action has been timed to coincide with the roll-out of new collection rounds, and we ask for resident’s understanding whilst we do all we can to deal with the issue.

Residents should continue to place their bins out for collection as normal, and check Wiltshire Council’s social media feeds or visit www.wiltshire.gov.uk for up-to-date information on waste collection services in their area.

Hills Municipal Collections welcomes the news that GMB Union have suspended their announced industrial action to ballot members on accepting our pay review offer, averting disruption to its household waste collection service across the county. The pay review offer provides a fair settlement and is in line with comparable local pay reviews, inflation indexation and the current cost of living.

Hills Municipal Collections has put a further pay review offer to GMB Union together with a request that the proposed industrial action is suspended during these continuing negotiations.

In the event that industrial action does take place from Monday 28 February, Hills Municipal Collections teams will work with Wiltshire Council in order to minimise disruption to household collection services. However, this industrial action has been timed to coincide with the roll-out of new collection rounds, we therefore ask that residents bear with us whilst we do all we can to minimise disruption to services.

We ask that residents place their bins out for collection as normal, and check Wiltshire Council’s social media feeds or visit www.wiltshire.gov.uk for update information on waste collection services in their area.

Hills Waste Solutions Ltd would like to reassure its commercial customers that their collection services and our treatment site facilities will not be impacted by the GMB Union announcement of intended industrial action from 28 February.

The GMB Union ballot was of its members employed by Hills Municipal Collections Ltd whose operations focus solely on delivering municipal refuse and recycling kerbside collection services to private residential households in Wiltshire under contract with Wiltshire Council.

As a valued business customer, should you have any queries regarding your waste collection service you may contact our dedicated customer support team on 01792 714 450 08:30 – 17:00 Monday to Friday.

The following statement has been issued by Hills Municipal Collections in response to notification from GMB Union of industrial action planned by union members at municipal waste depots:

Hills Municipal Collections is disappointed that GMB have balloted members on industrial action without first fully engaging in negotiations with the company on our 2021/22 pay review offer and not acting in accordance with the Tri-Union recognition agreement with the company.

Hills Municipal Collections is still waiting for both Unison and Unite’s responses under the terms of the Tri-Union recognition agreement to the pay review offer made.

The pay review offer was made in September 2021, however, GMB have only entered into meaningful dialogue since they have determined to ballot for strike action. This approach is not in the spirit of finding a resolution.

Hills Municipal Collections recognises and greatly values the work of our kerbside collections crews especially as demonstrated throughout the pandemic. During the pandemic the company has offered enhanced financial benefit to support employees required to self-isolate or where they have contracted coronavirus. In addition a special “lockdown bonus” has been paid in recognition of all employees that helped maintain critical frontline services during the first national lockdown. The current stance of the GMB does not acknowledge the positive actions taken by Hills Municipal Collections during a very challenging period for both employees and the wider Hills business as a whole.

The company looks to offer pay reviews based on affordability and the 2021/22 pay review offered was in line with comparable local pay reviews, indexation and the cost of living at the time.