Sheffield residents have voiced their frustration at the disappearance of recycling sites as industrial action enters its eighth month.
Workers for Veolia, a Paris-based corporation which provides the city’s bin and recycling services, have been on strike since August last year.
Their demand is simple: that their employer recognise their union, Unite.
The closed recycling sites are mostly located in supermarket car parks, and provide a place for people to recycle items which cannot be recycled at home, as well as excess recycling which they do not have space for in their own bins.
With tips being few and far between, and keeping limited opening hours, people have found themselves stuck with bags of recycling for months.
Residents have described the closures as “inconvenient and annoying”, as they have found themselves with piles of excess rubbish.
Joel Mayfield, one of the striking workers, said: “I understand that people are frustrated but imagine how frustrated we are.
“It’s not easy, but the principle is too important to give up.”
Since 2004, Veolia’s Sheffield branch has recognised the GMB Union, but has failed to recognise Unite. A union must be recognised in order to negotiate on behalf of their members on matters such as pay and working conditions.
Unite general secretary, Sharon Graham, said: “Workers have a basic right to be represented by their chosen union, Veolia is very much mistaken if they think Unite and our members will go quietly into the night. Instead, we will be turning up the volume and targeting Veolia across its business.”
With a reduced workforce, the company has prioritised the collection of household bins, and has consequently closed all recycling bring sites across the city.
On 19 March, striking union workers were joined by their French counterparts, as well as the Birmingham bin workers, who made national headlines and are currently in dispute with their city council following pay cuts.
The protest saw French workers cross the Channel in solidarity.
Mr Mayfield said: “It was a massive morale boost to know that there is global support.”
The striking worker used to be a member of GMB but left because he was unsatisfied with its poor organisation and communication, and other workers have done the same.
However, Mr Mayfield emphasised that this does not absolve Veolia of responsibility.
He said: “Veolia is our employer and they alone have the power to grant us equal recognition. Veolia already has a national recognition agreement with Unite, and joint recognition in most places is the norm.”
Veolia claims they are in the “crossfire” of an inter-union dispute between the two bodies, but Unite has denied this.
The multi-national waste-management company has said it believes if it recognises Unite, GMB workers will retaliate with their own strike.
However, Unite has disputed this after 150 workers at the refuse depot, including GMB members and non-union staff, signed a petition calling on Veolia to recognise Unite. Unite says this shows strong support from staff across the board.
According to Veolia, over 80% of their Sheffield workforce are represented by GMB, although Unite says the actual figure is smaller.
Unite regional officer, Shane Sweeting, said: “Veolia could end this dispute tomorrow by doing the right thing and recognising the workers’ chosen union, Unite.
“It is treating both its own staff, on whose backs its business is built, and the communities of Sheffield it is meant to serve with complete contempt. We will be targeting not just its business but the political infrastructure in the city to make our members’ anger heard.”
A spokesperson from Veolia said: “Instead of negotiating with the existing union, Unite has chosen to protest at our offices and sites around the world for months; campaigning against our employees, customers and partners to bully us into breaking our existing agreement with the recognised union.”
In December 2024, the parties came very close to a resolution, but Veolia backed out of the recognition deal at the last minute in what Sharon Graham, Unite general secretary, called an “act of utter cowardice”.
In the weeks before Christmas, Veolia had offered recognition to Unite, and the union had accepted, but Veolia went on to withdraw from the deal “at the 11th hour“.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “In all my years in the union movement I have never known a deal to be this close only for the employer to back out and betray the workforce at the last minute. Veolia’s management should be ashamed of themselves.”
A Veolia spokesperson said it delayed signing the recognition agreement because the GMB union raised a counter-dispute with both the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and Veolia.
In February, Unite members at the refuse site voted to continue striking, and as of today, action is still ongoing.
