CLEANSING staff at Limerick City and County Council returned to work this Wednesday (November 6) morning after carrying out “unofficial” strike action earlier in the week.
A reliable source, who did not wish to be named, told the Limerick Post that staff from Limerick City and County Council’s Cleansing Section of the Roads, Traffic, and Cleansing Department undertook strike action on Monday and Tuesday of this week on foot of a row between workers and the Council over the clawing back of special payments.
The source said the row centred around a payment – paid to street cleaners employed by the Council, known as a ‘dirt payment’ – for cleaning up potentially hazardous items on the city’s streets, such as hypodermic needles, dog foul, and even human excrement, which the Council allegedly wanted to stop paying to staff.
The payment is approximately €10 per week for cleansing staff who clean the streets on a daily basis, and is provided to staff on an application basis after picking up hazardous material.
Now, the cleansing staff source who spoke to the Limerick Post has confirmed that workers went back to work this Wednesday morning after an agreement was reached to retain the payment.
He said that a temporary agreement to keep the payment as is has been made, but the situation remains “on tenterhooks”.
The source said that the agreement had been sent to a third party for review, but cleansing staff could not rule out further strike action in the future if pay agreements were not adhered to.
A spokesman for Limerick City and County Council also confirmed an end to what was referred to as “unofficial” strike action.
“A number of staff attached to the Cleansing Section of the Roads, Traffic, and Cleansing Department at Limerick City and County Council commenced unofficial action on Monday morning causing disruption to normal service,” the spokesman outlined.
“A meeting between the Council and Union representatives was arranged for Tuesday with a view to resuming normal service as soon as possible. Following this engagement, it was agreed that staff would return to work this morning (Wednesday 06 November).”
Limerick City and County Council said that it regretted any inconvenience caused as many bins went unemptied and cleaning works went undone across Monday and Tuesday.
