A consultative ballot of members at the Cityclean depot in Brighton saw 95 per cent back being balloted for industrial election over redundancies planned by Brighton and Hove City Council, as well as concerns over disruption to workloads and poor on-site safety.
The union has claimed the council plans to axe some of the most experienced senior supervisor roles “in favour of higher paid operations managers who do not have the extensive experience of the city or refuse industry”.
The GMB union has called for scheduled talks with the council to discuss the matters.
Lib Whitfield, GMB senior organiser, said: “GMB members work hard to deliver a service but they’re being hampered by everything from vehicle breakdowns due to management not acting on defects, to inconsistent and unfair treatment.
“All this massively affects the service for residents but rather than deal with the problems, management expects workers to bear the brunt of changes, with a huge knock-on effect to residents.
“Brighton’s refuse workers do their best, but they do not feel listened to.
“The scheduled talks must be meaningful if we are to avoid an escalation that nobody wants.”
Brighton and Hove City Council has been approached for comment.
An independent report published towards the end of last year uncovered a “toxic” environment at Cityclean’s Hollingdean depot, with workers found to be regularly violent, racist, homophobic and misogynistic to other staff members.
Many accused in the report were either GMB representatives or among a group of men described as having been protected by union reps.
The union slammed the report as unfair and unbalanced and claimed it made “sweeping accusations” against its members.
A detailed action plan based on the report’s recommendations set out a programme for culture change and initiatives to create a healthy workplace and ensure service improvements over the next 12 to 18 months.
A report presented to councillors last month found that missed rubbish and recycling collections had fallen dramatically following the report.
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