CITY OF SYDNEY WASTE WORKERS TO STRIKE TOMORROW OVER LOW PAY AND UNDERSTAFFING, CALL ON COUNCIL TO INTERVENE

CITY OF SYDNEY WASTE WORKERS CALL ON COUNCIL TO INTERVENE AS STRIKES & WORKER SHORTAGES CONTINUE

City of Sydney waste workers will hold another 24-hour strike from 4.30am tomorrow as Cleanaway refuses to respond to concerns of low pay causing chronic understaffing, pressure on workers and waste carnage in the community. 

The union is calling on City of Sydney council – which contracts its essential waste function to Cleanaway – to intervene and ensure terms and conditions for workers are fair, safe and sustainable.

Workers have become increasingly frustrated after months of talks, with Cleanaway still refusing to bring a fair solution to the table over workers’ pay falling over $4 an hour behind their counterparts in other parts of Sydney. 

Cleanaway has a track record of attacking its workers. Last year, the TWU had to fight to get a delegate reinstated after he was unfairly sacked, while workers in Queensland, Erskine Park and Randwick have also had to take protected industrial action over attacks to their conditions like overtime and rostering. 

Cleanaway workers in Erskine Park are planning further protected industrial action at the end of the week over attempts to turn an 8-hour standard day into a 12-hour day, and to change a standard roster to cover 7 days of the week.

TWU NSW/QLD State Secretary Richard Olsen says that it is the council’s responsibility to set things right by intervening to ensure that Cleanaway comes to the table on sustainable conditions.

“It’s no exaggeration to say that City of Sydney waste workers are crucial to the community. Households across the city are really feeling the impact of driver shortages caused by low pay and Cleanaway management’s treatment of workers. Workers are grateful for the understanding of the community as they battle for sustainable pay and conditions that catch up to their counterparts in other parts of Sydney. 

“It’s important to remember that these trucks share the streets with other drivers and pedestrians in residential areas. Workers should not be understaffed and under the pump, pressured to work longer and faster to make ends meet. That is a deadly recipe. 

“Cleanaway has a track record of treating its workers like dirt, with many others fighting just to maintain their conditions in other parts of the state and country, while the TWU had to fight for the reinstatement of a delegate negotiating a new enterprise agreement who was unfairly sacked last year. 

“This appalling, unchecked behaviour by Cleanaway has gone on long enough, it’s time for the council to step in. After all, they are responsible for this contract and the essential service Sydney residents rely on. It’s not good enough for the council to wash its hands of this situation which has reached crisis point,” he said.

The TWU estimates the City of Sydney workforce at Cleanaway is 30-40% understaffed.

Last year, the Supreme Court found Cleanaway guilty on two counts of failing to comply with its health and safety duty over a fatal truck crash which killed two people, on the basis it had failed to adequately train and supervise the driver, who was also badly injured in the crash and had already been cleared of charges.

Media contact: Pippa Hatton 0418 982 257