Waste collectors in Cardiff begin 4-week strike over ‘bullying culture’

By Mehmet Solmaz

BIRMINGHAM, England (AA) - Members of the Unite trade union working for Cardiff council’s refuse and recycling department began a four-week-long strike on Thursday to "stop bullying culture."

The union had announced on Dec. 15 that its members in the Welsh capital had overwhelmingly voted to take strike action for four weeks, from Dec. 28 - Jan. 25, 2024.

“The fresh strike action relates to a number of local issues which the council has failed to address, the most prominent being a widespread bullying culture within the department,” the union had said in a statement.

“Cardiff council has completely failed to acknowledge that there is a bullying culture within the refuse and recycling department. The council must act urgently to address this,” said Unite general secretary Sharon Graham.

Cardiff council says the bullying allegations were initially made more than a year ago, and an independent review found no substance to the allegations.

In a statement on X on Thursday, it said some waste collections were likely to be impacted following Unite’s decision to strike, and asked people to check waste collection updates via the council’s website or government app.

In an earlier statement it had said the council was "putting a plan in place to maintain services and we apologize in advance to residents for any inconvenience."

"We aim to run all collection services as normal, apart from hygiene. Anyone registered with the hygiene service will have their hygiene waste collected every fortnight with black bag/black bin waste," according to a Dec. 22 release.