Council staff will return to work

COUNCIL staff at Mid Ulster Council will return to work on Friday, after an agreement was reached on pay.

The industrial action by council staff has seen thousands of homes – mainly in Dungannon and south Tyrone – left without bin collection services over the last four weeks.

On Wednesday, a member of the Unite union said they had been informed that council had agreed to their pay demands.

Eddie McNeice who works at the Dungannon depot, said, “We have been told that the Council management team have agreed to our proposal for the £750 one-off payment. So that means the strike is now off. It’s over.

“We are just delighted to have reached the agreement and all our members are looking forward to getting back to work and doing their jobs. It’s a great result for us.”

There had been fears that the strike action could rumble in to a fifth week.

The Council had offered a proposed four per-cent pay increase for staff over two years, on top of the national pay offer which would bring a further 10 per-cent rise this year for those on the lowest scales.

Their initial proposal also includes a one-off payment of £500 in recognition of the financial pressures which many face as a result of the cost of living crisis.

Unite, however had pushed for a £750 payment, due to the rising costs of living.

Meanwhile, the Council has confirmed to the Local Democracy Reporting service that there is “no facility under the current system” to offer rebates to ratepayers to compensate for the significant disruption to services caused by the current strike.

A council spokesperson said no refund would be forthcoming and explained this is primarily because a mechanism to do so does not exist.

“Rates are not collected by or paid to councils, but rather to central government (Land and Property Services) and they fund all public services, from health and education to roads, as well as the services provided by councils,” said the council spokesperson.

“There is no facility under the current system to offer rebates for any reduction in a service provided by any public body which is funded through rates.”