MUSIC echoes off the walls of Harlow’s Mead Park Industrial Estate, as passing cars honk their horns in support of striking employees from Harlow Trading Services (HTS) reports the Local Democracy Reporter.

Workers at the Harlow Council-owned trading company, which carries out environmental and housing maintenance, are demanding a one-off £3,000 cost of living payment.

But despite the cheers there was an atmosphere of frustration among the street cleaners, gardeners and other workers on today’s picket line (February 28). 

Members of Unite the Union told the LDRS their colleagues had been using food banks and taking on second jobs to make ends meet. Others said morale is at “an all time low.”

Bosses say the payment would cost the company over £1million, which it cannot afford. Its first industrial dispute since it was set up in 2017, the company says 64 per cent of the workforce had turned up to work and it had been able to deliver the majority of services today and during two earlier strike days. Managing director John Phillips told the LDRS HTS was supporting its employees, including providing free breakfast facilities, and hoped boosting productivity would be a way out of the dispute.

In an earlier joint statement, Harlow Council and HTS said staff received a flat rate increase of £1,925 at the end of last year as part of a nationally agreed pay offer.

Further talks are set to be held this week. But some said they are not hopeful an agreement will be reached. In an earlier statement, Unite said more strikes will be scheduled if the dispute is not resolved.

‘People are just fed up’

“People are just fed up with everything going up and wages just standing still,” said Bob Walton, a leading arborist at HTS and Unite shop steward. “We’ve got people who are using food banks, no working man should have to go to food banks.”

Although he was not experiencing this himself, Mr Walton said some of his colleagues have taken up second jobs to top up their wages and that people are finding it difficult to feed their children and pay their rent and heating bills. He said: “You should be able to make enough money just at work, without working weekends as well, people finding work for the weekends to top their money up.”

He also said he did not agree with the company that it could not afford the £3,000 payment, and claimed to have “not heard anything from their side.” As a result, he is not hopefully a resolution to the dispute will be found soon. This, as well as what Mr Walton described as a “hands-off” approach from the council, has led to a feeling of being under-appreciated among some staff.

He said: “When something falls on your house, I’m the one that comes and saves you.” He later said: “You just feel demoralised. People don’t seem to work as hard because they’re just demoralised. You feel like the company doesn’t care about them, so why should they care about the company?”

‘Morale is at an all time low’

Jason Kenway, an HTS leading gardener and fellow shop steward, echoed feelings of disillusionment. “Morale is at an all time low,” he said. He continued: “We’ve got people who can’t even afford to pay for membership of the union and they’re taking a day’s holiday just so they can show their support.”

Mr Kenway also said some employees are using food banks. He acknowledged the previous payment, but said this did not keep up with the current rate of inflation. According to the Office for National Statistics, CPI rose by 10.1 per cent in the 12 months to January 2023. Mr Kenway added employee’s pay grading and job evaluation systems are “all over the place,” and claimed they could have been improved when the national economy was in a better position.

Pay is negotiated nationally, but like workers in many industries, HTS staff say they experienced stagnating pay even before the cost of living crisis. Mr Kenway said: “We’ve had a few years where there’s been zero pay rise at all, and then the odd one per cent here, one per cent there, which doesn’t really cover anything at all.”

But despite the hardships, Jason says he is happy people are coming together and that the staff are striking to help everyone, including non-union members. He said: “It’s been a great turnout, people are getting more knowledgeable about what’s been happening and what’s going on.”

‘There needs to be a solution’

John Phillips, HTS Group’s managing director, told the LDRS there were originally four issues in discussion with trade unions. Of these three have been resolved, namely the job evaluation process, pay scales and out of fringe allowances. But provision for a cost of living payment has remained “a major sticking point.”

He said: “What the £3,000 means in terms of cost to the company is over £1m. The company doesn’t have that sort of money just stashed away to be able to pay that to employees, so discussions need to continue.”

However, he said he recognised some employees were struggling with affordability and said the company is trying to support them. For example, HTS has set up free breakfast provision for its employees, allowing them to come in before work and get free bread, fruit and other food.

He also told the LDRS the company wants to discuss with the union peoples’ ability to earn more through increased productivity and efficiency, as a potential way out of the dispute. He said: “We can’t afford to add cost to the organisation, but if we can deliver services in a far more efficient way and our people can be far more productive, then we can pay more money for them.”

Despite three days of industrial action, Mr Phillips said most services had been maintained, with essential issues covered by staff who had turned up to work. Should strikes continue, the company is prepared to use subcontracted labour to deliver services.

In recent months, the UK has seen waves of strike action across both private and public sectors, including from rail workers, nurses, teachers and postal workers. Dissatisfaction with pay and the rising cost of living is far from unique to Harlow.

“We do, as a nation, need to be able to find our way through this,” said Mr Phillips. “I recognise people not being able to afford a decent meal, making decisions as to whether they’re going to heat their house or eat, is not good is it. Whatever happens, there needs to be a solution.”

In an earlier joint statement with HTS, a Harlow Council spokesperson said in a statement: “The HTS workforce do a fantastic job and provide a range of important environmental and housing maintenance services for the town. We appreciate that the cost of living is impacting everyone, but a further pay increase this financial year beyond what has already been agreed nationally is not financially sustainable at this time. The industrial action will only involve HTS workers who are Unite members. Plans are in place to continue running essential services and disruption to residents will be kept to a minimum.”