Binmen call off strike as deal struck

Union members voted in favour of accepting Veolia’s offer and, as a result, all planned industrial action will be suspended. A strike could still take place in the future, however.

A spokesman for Veolia said: “(The vote) was not felt to be substantial enough to confirm full support of the collective workforce.

“In view of this, it has been agreed to hold a formal postal ballot in order to confirm whether the offer is acceptable.

“Although formal acceptance of the offer has not yet been confirmed Veolia has agreed with the GMB that and in particular the identified strike days will not take place.

“Unfortunately, the bad weather and discussions with our workforce earlier this week have regrettably led to a disruption in services and some black bins and blue bins and boxes have not been emptied this week.”

As a result, extra bin collections will take place today.