Bins industrial action - 'Council sees benefits of privatisation'

THE fact that city refuse collectors have once again rejected a council offer to end their long-running industrial action won't mean a lot to most residents.

The work-to-rule has had little impact outside of the families of the bin men themselves, who have had to get by for many months without the overtime payments that they had come to depend upon.

Life has gone on pretty much as normal for the rest of the city because council bosses have brought in private contractors to do any extra work. They say they have done this at little additional cost.

The piles of rubbish that accumulated during the worst of the recent big freeze were not a result of the industrial action, as pick-ups would have been halted no matter whether they were supposed to be done by council staff or private hands.

It is looking increasingly likely that the latter will be doing more and more of that kind of work here in the Capital in months to come.

The bin men and their unions may have thought they were fighting for a principle, that they should not suffer a 6000-a-year wage cut under work reforms, but all they have done is seal their own fate.

A council which before may have gone down the route of total privatisation only reluctantly now sees the benefits of just such a move.

The final proof that this will be better value for money has still to be presented, but most residents will feel that recent months have shown that services will at least be no worse, and may even be better, under such an alternative model.

Blindcraft plan

THE way that the city's Blindcraft factory was saved last November was an inspiring example of a community looking out for itself.

The factory's workers, many of them blind or otherwise disabled, led the battle, with their trades unions, against the council's plan to shut it down on cost grounds.

But hundreds of locals joined the effort to protect the charity, and the Evening News was proud to play a part in forcing the council into a last-minute u-turn.

Today we report concerns among workers at new deals from the council which change redundancy terms. At best that will make it cheaper to shut the factory under any future plans. At worst staff may feel they need to go now, with a bigger pay-off, rather than risk losing out - possibly leading to its closure.

The News, and all who helped save Blindcraft last year, will be watching closely to make sure this isn't the council trying to shut the factory by the back door.