Bin collectors in Huddersfield are expected to vote for industrial action next week.
And if they do it means many bins will go uncollected.
The 150 staff who collect the bins across Huddersfield are angry at the new 10-hours shifts they now have to work across four days instead of five.
They claim the nature of the work is causing them repetitive injuries and say they need to cut health and safety corners to collect all the bins they need to during each shift.
Now the staff who are members of big unions Unite and Unison will vote next week on whether to work to rule.
A relative of one of the binmen, who asked not to be named, said staff were feeling ‘intimidated’ and claimed they were being asked to ‘achieve the unachievable.’
Kirklees Unison branch secretary Paul Holmes said: “With the new 10-hour shifts spread over four days the staff are saying they are suffering too many injuries due to the repetitive nature of the job. They are extremely unhappy.
“Although people may think it’s easier than in the past as the bins are on wheels, they are twice as big and so twice as heavy and there are a large number of ‘assists’ where the staff have to get the bin from the homes of elderly and disabled people.”
Mr Holmes said the rounds were simply too demanding with the bin collectors now struggling to finish them and some bins are being missed.
He said some crews were starting before their official 7am start in a bid to get all the bins emptied on their rounds.
If the staff do decide to work to rule then Mr Holmes said more bins would be left unemptied.
And he claimed the only way to get through the high workload now was to cut health and safety corners such as crossing busy main roads with bins.
“They are under pressure to do things that are unsafe,” he said. “They say they simply can’t meet their targets. Unless these rounds are changed this industrial action will be inevitable.”
We are waiting for a comment from Kirklees Council.
