Bristol council staff told jobs transferred to waste firm

Bristol City Council has approved the transfer of 215 council services staff to Bristol Waste Company.

The changes mean all cleaning and security staff will switch to the council-owned refuse company, which it said would save it £2m over five years.

The plans have been branded as "authoritarian" by unions who said the staff did not want to be moved.

The council said the move was "co-sourcing" and workers' terms and conditions would not be affected.

Steve Davies from the union Unite said: "Cleaning services and security services carried on throughout the pandemic."

"Now we're rewarding them in an uncertain time by depriving them of the protections offered by Bristol City Council.

"Who is to say what will happen with Bristol Waste in the future?" he continued.

He claimed Bristol City Council was attempting to privatise services by another name.

Bristol Waste Company denied there was any hidden agenda and said jobs would not only be protected but expanded by the plan.

John Walsh, the council's director of workforce and change, said opposition was simply a matter of union national policy, and terms and conditions for the staff would be unaffected.

"The things we will be negotiating with Bristol Waste are the terms of the contract, in terms of the finances, the cost of the contract, the monitoring of it, that type of thing."

"The transferring of staff from one entity to another, which is the worrying bit for the staff, we can only say to the staff; 'look everything you've got now you will have when you transfer'."

Cabinet approved the decision at an extraordinary council meeting earlier and the changes are planned to come in by June.