July 2006 Council meetingQuestion: Councillor M. Baker:
"To ask the Manager to answer the following questions in relation to the Green and Black bin service: (a) what are the details of the proposals mentioned in Question C/249/06 that are currently being negotiated with SIPTU and IMPACT; (b) how many meetings have taken place to advance the completion of negotiations, and on what dates have these meetings taken place; (c) if the negotiations are due to be substantially completed by summer, on what date are they due to be completed; (d) on what date does the present contract for the Green Bin collection finish? (e) what are the details of the process for the Green Bin review scheduled for 2007; (f) on what date is the review scheduled to begin, and how long will the review take (g) in what year will residents of each ward have Brown bin facilities?"
Reply:
"(a) The Council have proposed that the number of freighters operating on any given day be reduced. This would mean that route size would increase and as a consequence the number of employees operating the service would be reduced. (b) Having observed the manner in which the public responded to Pay by Weight in the first year of operation, the Council and the Unions have met on 12 occasions to progress the negotiations including talks under the auspices of the Labour Relations Commission. These meetings took place on the following dates 2nd June 2005, 27th June 2005, 13th July 2005, 8th Nov 2005, 23 Nov 2005, 2nd Dec. 2005, 13 Jan 2006, 27th January 2006, 7th March 2006, 10th March 2006, 23rd March 2006, 10th April 2006. (c) The Council are scheduled to meet with the Unions again on 11th July 2006 and are hopeful that this meeting will resolve all substantial issues. (d) The Green bin contract is scheduled to finish on 31 May 2008. The Contract allows for an extension of the service by Oxigen subject to Agreement (e) The negotiations which will form the Contract review will examine all aspects of the service to date, the cost of the service and the expansion of the service to include plastic materials. (f) At this time it is expected that the review process will formally commence in May 2007 with a view to putting new arrangement in place by January 2008. (g) The tentative date for the commencement of the collection of Brown bins is January 2008. At present the Council has shortlisted a number of Service Providers for the design and construction of the Biological Waste facility and it is hoped that the successful tenderer will be on site by the end of the 2006 and complete the facility by the end of 2007."