Laois workers at wheelie bin collection service vote for strike action

Unionised Bord na Móna Recycling workers in Laois have voted overwhelmingly in favour of taking strike action.

The SIPTU members employed by Bord na Móna Recycling, the country’s last publicly owned domestic waste collection service,  voted to strike over a dispute around the protection of workers’ terms and conditions of employment, which they say are threatened by a proposed privatisation.

SIPTU Divisional Organiser, Adrian Kane, said the strike action received overwhelming backing from SIPTU members. 

Mr Kane said union representatives will meet with Bord na Móna management on Thursday and SIPTU shop stewards will consider what action to take. 

“The ballot for strike action was carried overwhelmingly by 95% to 5%. Our members are clear in their aim of protecting the last remaining publicly owned domestic waste collection service which is the industry leader in terms of environmental responsibility, health and safety standards and workers’ rights.

“The attempt to sell off Bord na Móna Recycling was done behind the backs of its workers. It is a bad deal for them, the country and the future of waste collection in Ireland. It also raises serious questions concerning the future of the semi-state sector in Ireland. Bord na Móna as an enterprise drove the economic development of the midlands for generations, it was meant to be central to a so-called ‘just transition’ for workers into a new greener economy,” said Mr Kane.  

“Rather than protect the State’s involvement as a driving force in economic development and change, Bord na Móna as a company has been asset stripped. We need a forward facing domestic waste collection sector which places environmental concerns at its centre, not one driven purely by profit, which will result in the longer term in increased costs for customers, mounting environmental damage and removes the State from a key economic sector,” he added.

SIPTU Organiser, Pat McCabe, said: “This is the final opportunity for the company and Government to meet with Union representatives and seriously discuss this company’s future. Our members will not accept the removal of terms and conditions of employment that have been hard fought for. The future of the whole domestic waste sector hinges on this dispute. Is the sector going to be a playground for gombeen politics and profiteering or a rationally managed sector which places customers and the environment at its centre?”

READ ALSO: Union slams proposed sale of Bord na Móna Recycling

The ballot was conducted in Bord na Móna Recycling depots in counties Carlow, Dublin, Kildare, Laois, Limerick, Louth, Offaly, Meath, Tipperary, Westmeath, Wexford and Wicklow.