A union representing Christchurch rubbish truck drivers says it has reached a resolution with Waste Management about hours of work.
Radio New Zealand News reports that since Monday, the city’s 50 rubbish truck drivers have been finishing work at 2pm, regardless of whether all the bins have been emptied.
The drivers want to be paid time-and-a-half for hours worked on top of an eight-hour shift.
The Amalgamated Workers union met with waste management company representatives yesterday.
Union spokesman Lindsay Chappell says a satisfactory resolution would be presented to the workers on Monday.
“The biggest concern was wage rates, and also hours required to work with summer coming on – obviously, the organics is quite huge,” says Chappell .
“There will be a mechanism put in place to prevent that for future.”
He said the drivers were already doing 10-12 hour shifts.
Christchurch City Council acting unit manager of water and waste Tony Joyce told Radio New Zealand News last week that many residents had contacted the council, wanting to know why their bins were still full.
He says council was investigating back-up plans in case the pay dispute between the rubbish collectors and their employer escalated.
