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Refuse, recycling and cleansing staff are once again being asked to abandon a planned bin strike in Adur and Worthing next week.

To 'prevent bin strike misery for residents', Adur & Worthing Councils has asked GMB Union members to reconsider plans to leave bins uncollected for two weeks.

Adur & Worthing Councils said 'residents will suffer' because of a decision by the GMB, 'which we believe to be completely unjustified'.

The councils had given staff at the depot pay rises of more than 6 per cent on top of a national backdated pay award of 1.75 per cent. The councils’ HGV drivers have been given pay rises of more than 12.7 per cent.

The GMB said that, 'just like we saw in Brighton (pictured) and Eastbourne', Adur and Worthing could see residents' rubbish go uncollected and the town centres and communal streets uncleaned. Photo: Eddie Mitchell

As many as 65 members of staff were moved up a grade and a further 40, who are required to drive HGVs regularly as part of their role, will get a permanent annual £2,700 specialist skills supplement. Four more will get both the annual specialist skills supplement and be moved up a grade.

"The pay rises follow a review involving the recognised union, UNISON, which found that staff were already receiving base pay that was comparable to local authorities," a councils spokesperson said.

"The GMB has said it wants larger pay rises than those announced, and continues to claim that the councils will not speak to its representatives. In fact, it is the GMB that refuses to talk to the Councils about its concerns."

GMB union said that its two week strike action for waste, recycling and street cleansing will go ahead from Monday (March 14).

A bin collection strike in Eastbourne ended in January, as staff accepted a pay rise.

The strike is regarding members’ pay concerns, and 'despite the union providing the council with three weeks’ notice', GMB said there has been 'no movement towards formal negotiations which may have halted the action'.

The councils said staff are 'currently working on contingency plans' but the extent of the disruption will 'not become clear until Monday morning'.

In the meantime the councils have produced a section on their website which will 'attempt to answer all questions residents might have' and give daily updates.

They added: “The pay rises we have negotiated with staff and UNISON are a good deal for our workers but the GMB appears to want nothing to do with them because it wasn’t involved in the negotiations. The GMB continues to claim that we are ignoring it but this could not be further from the truth.

“The offer on the table, already accepted by most staff, is better than one negotiated and accepted by the GMB recently at another local authority.

"We hope that common sense can still prevail.”

In October last year. Adur & Worthing Councils commenced an internal review into the pay of 109 members of staff in its refuse, recycling and cleansing department.

This review is continuing, including work to 'rebalance refuse and recycling rounds' to deal with the demands of new housing.

Staff are being offered the opportunity to gain an HGV driving qualification while there will also continue to be discussions about ways to improve the working environment.

A bin collection strike ended in Eastbourne last month, as staff accept a pay rise. Eastbourne Borough Council said the initial pay rise is to £12.50 an hour – which is a five per cent increase for the highest paid drivers and a 15 per cent rise for the lowest paid.

This came after another similar strike in Brighton. Read more here.

Worthing bin strike: Councils 'working on contingency plans'