Day: September 20, 2014

Conservative Group Leader, Cllr. Geoffrey Theobald, has called on Cllr. Warren Morgan, leader of the Labour group on the City Council, to urge the GMB Trade Union to call off strike action by refuse truck drivers.

The present strike action has been running for a week and includes a ‘work to rule’ which has resulted in rubbish piling up on the streets and bins not being collected, posing a major public health hazard. There is no sign of either the Council or the GMB backing down. The local Labour Group have stated that improving the refuse and recycling service will be their number one priority if they take over running the Council in May next year. However, the Conservatives complain bitterly that not one of the Party’s three parliamentary candidates, nor their Council Spokesperson on the Environment, has issued a public statement on the strike. Conservative Group Leader, Cllr. Geoffrey Theobald, said: “Even the Green Party Leader has at last joined me in coming out in condemnation of this strike, yet here we have Cllr. Morgan, who says he hopes to become the Leader of the Council next May, not uttering one single word to try and get this resolved. His one and only intervention was, as usual, to score party political points over the Green Party. How can they be trusted to implement the reforms to the Cityclean service that are so desperately needed when they are so inextricably linked with the trade union that keeps on bringing the workers out on strike? It is a massive conflict of interest. They would gain much more respect if they used their links with the GMB to try and resolve the situation, which is what I am urging Cllr. Morgan to do.”

Councillor Morgan responded, saying: “Cllr Theobald needs to end his petty political point-scoring and start coming up with some credible policies if he expects to be taken seriously as an alternative to the failed Green administration in 200 days time. I’ve said we would get to grips with the refuse collection service, make cleaning our streets and improving our recycling service a top priority for a Labour-led council with responsibility moved to the senior Policy and Resources Committee chaired by the Leader. Issues like the one that have led to the current dispute should be resolved much earlier and industrial action should be a last resort, not a negotiating tool. Instead of trying to score points, Cllr Theobald might better spend his time persuading his Conservative government not to cut another £100 million from the money the council needs for children’s services, street lighting, Cityclean, care services, libraries, parks, roads and the dozens of other essential services it provides to residents.”