The unofficial stoppage brought cleansing services in the city to a halt as crews refused to move from the city's main refuse depot at Cross Green and yards across Leeds.

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Union officials and senior management from the Council rushed to the Cross Green depot and the workers were addressed by director Randall Brown early today.

The stoppage follows a pay review which has left up to 3,500 Leeds Council workers facing pay cuts which will also hit pensions.

The workers are divided between three unions - UNISON, the General and Municipal Workers' Union GMB, and the Transport and General Workers' Union, of which UNISON is the largest.

UNISON convenor Billy Darkin said: "The Council has done a job evaluation right across the city. All the street cleansing lads, refuse, waste management, are going to lose money.

"The cuts vary from £3,000 a year to £6,000 a year. It is going to cost some people their mortgages.

"We heard yesterday they were going to refuse to move from the yards until management agreed to talk to them. It was not unexpected, though it was not planned."

The stoppage ended after the meeting with management but may be followed by an official ballot on strike action.

One refuse worker, who said his annual basic salary was due to plunge from £17,985 to £13,720, described the proposed deal as "diabolical."

Although under a pay protection clause any reductions will not take effect for at least three years, the worker - who did not wish to be named - said there was great concern among his colleagues.

He said: "People have taken out mortgages and loans on the basis of having a basic wage of nearly £18,000.

"Cuts of this size will leave people in real trouble. I have added up my outgoings and I couldn't afford to pay my bills."
"This will also effect the pensions we will be entitled to when we retire."

Another worker currently earning over £16,000 said that under the new structure his pay would fall to £11,700.

The pay review is being carried out by Councils nationwide following a court ruling that thousands of women Council employees were underpaid for years.

Councils face bills of millions to put matters right and began reviews of pay structures. In Leeds the bill is around £3m.

In Leeds 45 per cent of the Council's 35,000 staff will not be affected, and 47 per cent will receive pay increase. But eight per cent - about 3,500 workers - face pay cuts.

The council says that over the next three years it will continue talks with the unions to explore ways of avoiding pay cuts.

Letters have gone out to about 23,000 local authority staff in Leeds setting out details of the new proposed pay and grading system.
Council bosses say the proposed structure aims to address "historic, out-of-date" pay issues.

A further 6,000 posts have still to be evaluated.

A council spokeswoman said: "Wherever possible we have tried to minimise the impact of these changes on staff and we do understand that it will affect individuals differently and that it has been a very difficult process for our employees to go through.

"That is why we have offered pay protection for those affected for three years and worked closely with affected groups to minimise the impact of the changes."

She said the average pay cut was £1,800.

Brian Mulvey, of UNISON's Leeds local government branch, said: "It is our intention that no staff should suffer pay cuts and we have a commitment from the council to look at how jobs can be redesigned so that there are no wage losses.

" We feel this is the best agreement we can get now. If in three years time people are about to have their wages cut I am sure they will want to respond with industrial action."

YOUR VIEW
I didn't even know they were on strike till I read this. My bin was emptied as usual. Or does this report refer to Wednesday the 24th October?

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I live in Whinmoor and my bins were due to be emptied today. As I live in a block of 6 flats our bin was quite full and the binmen didn't turn up until 9:24 pm. Which I find outrageous when young children could be in bed.

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YOU NEVER SEE ANY OUTDOOR COUNCIL EMPLOYEES WORKING IN ADVERSE WEATHER EXCEPT YOUR REFUSE COLLECTORS!!! £6.00 PER HOUR IS A JOKE THE SERVICE WILL GO DOWN HILL WHEN THE COUNCIL EMPLOYES THE INFLUX OF EASTERN EUROPEANS WAIT AND SEE.IM A BINMAN FOR 18YEARS BUT I WILL HAVE TO LEAVE AS I CANNOT AFFORD TO WORK FOR L.C.C.

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Our Refuse crews do a great job, out in all weathers and they work all bank holidays apart from Christmas day boxing day and new years day (at normal plain time rates)
When the refuse collection staff work overtime there pay is by no means enhanced.
The conditions the crews work under is far from ideal, productivity is excellent, yet most people unfortunately do not realise just how much work and effort from the crews and management team is involved to deliver the service.…
Other local authorities might pay there work force much less, but we are dealing with a huge metropolitan area in Leeds covering a wide variety of housing and terrain difficulties.
It is about time people started to value this excellent front line service, remember the cost of delivering the refuse collection service is only a small element of the council tax.
Raymond Hewlett Mullins(Leeds)

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Im sorry but i think the pay review board must live on another planet might i suggest they swop jobs for a week and see if the rate of pay they are offering to give the council workers matches the job instead of evaluations done from here say and paper work get out there and see for yourselfs.
I cant understand why they would wish to bring hardship to the very people who help to keep leeds what it is today.
But then again it all comes down to pension and the goverments way to pay less when you retire plain and simple.
The post office workers, The railway workers ,The council workers,all in the same boat.
whose next The nhs ?
And as for the unions who allowed this to go ahead when it comes time to budget your income in 3 years time they will be the first to loose out where will they be then. yours
graffit team needle team and refuse.

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