Deal made in refuse workers' pay dispute

A pay offer has been agreed with waste collectors and street cleaners who were due to go on strike, a council has announced.

One third of Great Yarmouth Services (GYS) workers, including landscapers and grave diggers, withdrew their labour earlier this month after their demand for a 20% pay increase was rejected.

Planned strikes by GYS were called-off on Wednesday for pay negotiation talks.

The details of the new deal have not been made public, but Great Yarmouth Borough Council, which own GYS, previously offered a 3.3% rise for workers.

Carl Smith, the Conservative leader of the authority, said: "We are pleased the industrial action has concluded and believe the offer for employees demonstrates the company's commitment to fair pay and conditions for all of the staff who do such important work in the borough.

''We are sorry for the disruption the dispute caused residents, businesses and visitors and I would like to thank the public for their patience while we worked with unions to resolve the issues as quickly as possible."

Ongoing engagement with unions would hopefully prevent future industrial action, he added.

Great Yarmouth, Gorleston-on-Sea and their surrounding villages in Norfolk were impacted by industrial action earlier in August.

Andreas Kucher, a Unite the Union regional officer, said previously the majority of staff on strike were currently being paid 11p above minimum wage.

Smith previously described the union's demands for a 20% pay increase as "totally unacceptable and unreasonable", adding it would cost the borough's taxpayers an additional £1m a year.

The union said a 20% pay rise would put staff on par with pay awarded to workers doing the same jobs in Norwich, Broadland and Lowestoft.

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