Industrial action which is affecting bin collections in the wider Armagh area will continue into mid-September, it has been announced.
The strike action, which began in July, was set to continue until next Friday, August 30.
However, Unite the Union say the action will continue until Friday, September 13, as things stand.
The DUP Councillor grouping on ABC Council has reacted with dismay and frustration at the news.
The DUP Councillors said ABC Council as a corporate body and service provider is sustaining serious harm to its reputation as a result of the ongoing strike action which has resulted in thousands of bins being left uncollected across the district.
They explained that whilst a monumental effort is underway to collect missed bins by non-striking council staff working extras hours, home owners, elderly people and those who have medical needs and have medical waste rely heavily on a regular refuse collection service.
The group said: “The expectation amongst ratepayers is that their hard earned money spent on paying their rates bill will result in this most vital of services being honoured.
“This has not been the case now for many weeks and to help cope with this lack of service, non-striking staff are doing many more hours – after their normal runs – to mop up missed collections. This is taking some time and obviously a considerable resource in both staff time, energy and council finances.
“With no end in sight in this current strike action and now an extension in to the middle of September, rate payers are at boiling point over this lack of service. People are increasingly saying that ABC Council’s reputation is suffering badly. We fully empathise with rate payers and understand why they feel this way.
“Homeowners are rightly asking will they receive a reduction in their rates bill as a result of the failure to provide this vital service. That is a very fair question, however it must be made clear that in order to address the thousands of missed bins that those on strike should be working on, council is paying overtime to non-striking staff to work many extra hours to deal with the backlog. That comes with considerable financial cost to council.”
The group concluded: “Whilst hard working staff and crews who are not on strike, are doing their very best to try and deliver a service under these difficult circumstances, the wider public are continuing to question the point of this strike action and what is being achieved by the strike action.
“The only outcome of this strike has been to damage the reputation of the council and annoy homeowners and that will take a long time to recover from for the council as a whole. As public representatives we have collectively fielded hundreds of calls on the missed collections and the message is clear – the public really have had enough and they say it is high time the strike was ended and ratepayers had these services reinstated.”
