Hills Municipal Collections has received confirmation that employees who are members of the GMB Union will cease strike and return to work on Friday 18 March. The announcement came following GMB Union’s discussions with members today when they agreed to accept a version of an offer that had been previously discussed with GMB Union prior to strike action.

A spokesperson for Hills Municipal Collections said: “Although pleased that the action will now finish, we are frustrated that to all intents and purpose, we have gone full circle, that said, we are pleased that GMB Union members have agreed to accept the deal offered at 7.1% which includes a minimum 2% pay rise back dated to April 2021 and a 5% pay rise from 1 April 2022 with the next annual review in April 2023.”

A spokesperson for Hills Municipal Collections said: “Although pleased that the action will now finish, we are frustrated that to all intents and purpose, we have gone full circle, that said, we are pleased that GMB Union members have agreed to accept the deal offered at 7.1% which includes a minimum 2% pay rise back dated to April 2021 and a 5% pay rise from 1 April 2022 with the next annual review in April 2023.”

Household recycling collections will resume on Monday 21 March and residents should put out their black box and blue lidded bin on their scheduled day. If recycling bins are not emptied on their scheduled day people are asked to leave them out, and they will be collected as soon as possible. Any additional recycling materials stockpiled during the disruption will be collected. People are asked to put those items in non-black bags or containers (such as a plastic crate) next to their recycling bins.Household and garden waste collections continue as normal and people are asked to put those bins out on their normal collection day. There could still be slight delays so people are asked to leave their bins out until collected.

Hills Municipal Collections held a further meeting with GMB union and employee representatives on Monday 14 March with initial indications that they were ready to negotiate. Hills tabled a number of structured proposals that looked to address GMB Union’s concerns, based on affordability for the company.

It is regrettable that the GMB Union officials and employee representatives feel unable to take these offers to union members. Hills has shown a willingness to engage with the GMB Union, even during this period when industrial action is taking place, and is willing to continue with negotiations to bring this situation to an agreeable conclusion for all parties, and particularly for those employees taking industrial action or that feel unable to attend work due to picket line activity and who are out of pocket during a time of uncertainty and financial strain.

A spokesperson for Hills Municipal Collections said: “We are disappointed that GMB Union continue to move the goal posts. Their expectations are changing to such a degree it makes reaching a meaningful dialogue very challenging and we are increasingly frustrated with this approach. We are working hard to ensure that all of our employees, whether represented by one of the three unions or not, are treated fairly through this process.

“Subsequent to the meeting, the GMB Union has given notification of further strike action for the period 23 March to 2 April. Despite this we will continue to negotiate with the GMB Union in the spirit of arriving at a mutually agreeable settlement. Hills Municipal Collections teams will work with Wiltshire Council to minimise disruption to household collection services.”

“We are pleased to welcome back to work a number of employees who have been on industrial action and who recognise the 7.1% minimum pay offer as being a fair settlement.”

In light of certain statements made to local media outlets by GMB union representatives and members, we think it important to set out the facts.

Hills Municipal Collections offered a minimum two percent pay increase to all employees from 1 October 2021, in line with underlying inflation rate at the time. This offer was not accepted by the GMB Union, and they only entered into meaningful dialogue once they had determined to ballot for strike action

The strike was called because Hills Municipal Collection workers, who are members of the GMB Union, wanted a 7% pay rise.

At these negotiations Hills Municipal Collections offered a pay increase of at least 2% backdated to October 2021 and brought forward the 2022 pay review date from October 2022 to May 2022, with an additional 5% pay rise from 1 May 2022.

This offer was accepted by UNISON membership but rejected by the GMB union.

Hills then revised the offer to pay the five percent from 1 March 2022. Overall, this represents a minimum 7.1% pay rise, with some employees achieving an even higher percentage increase up to 15%.

The revised offer was also accepted by UNITE members but was again rejected by the GMB union membership.

The delay in accepting the pay offer has caused real time delays to employees’ pockets as they have gone without a pay rise that was due to them in October 2021, 6 months ago. 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

Further, a GMB union representative has incorrectly stated that employees are on £9 an hour and have not had a pay increase for four years.

We can confirm that all Hills Municipal Collections employees currently earn over £9 per hour, and Hills’ offer will see salaries increase by at least 7.1% between October 2021 and 1 March 2022. Prior salary increase for this bargaining unit was in April 2019 (between 2% and 5.95%) and not four years ago. Due to the pandemic, no pay review was offered in 2020.

In addition, these frontline workers in Hills Municipal Collections received up to £300 lockdown bonus in November 2020 to reward them for their commitment and hard work over the first national lockdown during the pandemic.

During the pandemic, in both 2020 and 2021, we offered up to 10 days full pay per year for COVID related absences and sickness benefit entitlement on top of maintaining existing absence benefits, so that employees did not suffer loss of income due to self-isolation.

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.