Hart residents are being warned to brace themselves for piles of rubbish left uncollected on the streets when union members take part in a national strike.

The effects will be felt most on the two days of the Unison strike – Wednesday and Thursday – but also on Friday.

The district council has promised to try its best to carry out all collections on these days but warns that should it be unable to get all crews out because of the strike it will concentrate on collecting the black household waste bins.

Residents due to have their blue recycling bins, glass boxes and green waste collected on these days should put out the containers as normal and the council will try to collect them.
They should be left out until Friday afternoon and if still uncollected kept until the next collection a fortnight later.

Hart District Council’s waste manager Sarah Incher said: “Please accept Hart District Council’s apologies for any inconvenience.

“We will try to collect as much as we can over the three days but the priority will be black bins.”

However, the effects of the strike are already worrying residents.

On hearing about the industrial action, one Church Crookham resident said: “I have to admit that since going to fortnightly collections the service has got better. Before we did not know when the bin men would turn up.

“However, strikes are never a good thing because the public pays for all the disruption they cause.”

The resident said he has a blue recycling bin collection on Wednesday so it would probably not get emptied.

“It’s an inconvenience but we’ve always got the bottle bank nearby in Basingbourne Park, which is really useful,” he said.

“I think the council is right to concentrate on the black bins but it is predicting there will be disruption for both days of the strike and a knock-on for the following day.

“It means that if they can’t collect them all during the strike action then uncollected bins will be left to rot for another two weeks in the height of the summer.

“I’m worried that people will find themselves surrounded by mountains of rubbish.”

A resident of Elvetham Heath in Fleet added: “It seems the underpaid refuse collectors of Hart are going on strike.

“But rather than the council reschedule bin collections they are expecting those of us not fortunate enough to get our refuse collected as normal simply to put our bins back in their normal spot and wait an additional two weeks for them to turn up.

“They can spend money clearing up after the travellers at Ancells Farm but law abiding citizens who pay their council tax must suffer.”

Unison decided to strike after 55% of members who returned their ballots voted for ‘escalating and sustained’ strike action over this year’s pay settlement.
The union is unhappy with the final pay offer, worth 2.45% for most workers and 3.3% for the lowest paid.

Unison said the industrial action would affect one in three council workers, with tens of thousands of school dinner ladies, librarians, classroom assistants and bin men in England, Wales and Northern Ireland stopping work.

Unison’s head of local government Heather Wakefield said the decision to strike was tough but members had endured a decade of below inflation pay rises.

She added that rising food, fuel and utility bill prices were leaving many workers in poverty.

General secretary Dave Prentis added: “This is a solid vote for action and a clear message to the local government employers that our members are willing to fight for a decent pay rise.

“They are fed up and angry that they are expected to accept pay cut after pay cut while bread and butter prices go through the roof.”

But Brian Baldwin, chairman of the employers’ side of the local government negotiating body, said industrial action would not change the fact that the 2.45% deal was the final offer.

He said going on strike could have serious implications for some of the most vulnerable people in society.

Mr Baldwin added: “The settlement on the table was affordable both to the taxpayer and councils while at the same time made sure that local government continued to be an attractive place to work.

“If the pay settlement was set any higher then councils will be forced into making unpalatable choices between cutting front line services and laying off staff.

“Neither unions nor employers would want either of these options.”

Meanwhile, Hart residents are being urged to check the council website www.hart. gov.uk for refuse collection updates. They are asked not to telephone the council unless it is absolutely necessary.