by Roger Donnelly
Plans to privatise brown bin collections in Antrim are being strongly opposed by trade unionists.
Council is also proposing to outsource black bin collections in Newtownabbey.
It would mean 34 voluntary redundancies.
But with Council's ever tougher re-cycling and waste separation targets, Unite's Michael Keenan thinks it's a perfect privatisation storm:
Meanwhile, Antrim & Newtownabbey Borough Council has issued a statement over the situation. Here it is in full:
"Following the merger of Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Councils, a number of services have been aligned and a review of the waste collection service was carried out.
The Council recently considered a number of proposals and has approved, subject to staff and Trade Union consultation, to outsource some of the waste collection services. In real terms, for customers, these proposals will mean that their bin collection service will continue to operate as is currently does.
For staff it means that we can accommodate those seeking to leave through the severance scheme on a voluntary basis, and we have reassured all staff that there will be no compulsory redundancies or TUPE transfers (Transfer of Undertakings Protection of Employment) to another service provider.
Practically it will take a number of months to work through the proposals, and a further update to Council is envisaged to be made towards the end of summer 2017."
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