Bin strikes in Fife: Residents to prepare for 'significant service disruption' if refuse workers strike over pay

Fife Council has received notification of strikes involving waste and recycling centre staff and street cleansing staff from 5am on Tuesday, September 6 until 4.59am on Wednesday, September 14.

Members of Unite the union will join colleagues at other local authorities across Scotland for this second phase of industrial action in a dispute over pay.

The strike is currently planned to start next week after Unite rejected the latest offer of a £1925 pay rise from CoSLA on Monday.

The council is expecting the strike action to significantly impact household waste collections and street cleaning, with the majority of domestic collections across Fife being suspended over this period.

There will also be some impact on recycling centres, which may be subject to closure between September 7 and 10, and collections from recycling points.

The council anticipates that normal collections will resume on Wednesday, September 14.

Litter bins and dog waste bins are also likely to be affected, as street cleansing staff are also on strike.

People are urged to take litter home, whenever possible, if litter bins are full.

Services likely to be impacted by the action include resident wheeled bin collections; household waste recycling centres; litter and dog waste bins; street litter and flytipping clearances and bulky uplifts, although any existing bookings will go ahead.

Ken Gourlay, executive director for enterprise and environment, said: “This strike action is part of national action being carried out across Scotland.

"I full appreciate that this will be an extremely challenging period for us all and I would like to thank our residents and visitors for their patience and understanding.

"If your bin is due to be collected on a day affected by strike action, please present it on the kerb as usual, but if it has not been emptied by 9pm take it back in and present it again on the next scheduled day for that bin.

"Decisions on which will bins will be serviced will be dependent on the numbers of employees attending work, or striking.

"Please store products that can be recycled until the next scheduled collection day, where possible.

“Recycling points and centres are likely to be much busier than usual during the strike action so we advise that residents avoid using these.

"We will lift excess waste landfill/recycling on the next scheduled uplift.

"Please do no leave non-recyclable waste at recycling points as this is fly-tipping.”

Commercial collections are unlikely to be impacted in Fife at this time.

For the latest information visit www.fife.gov.uk/binstrike