UNITE has notified HTS that its members plan to take further industrial action on24, 25, 27 and 28 April 2023 and 2, 3 and 4 May 2023.

HTS is Harlow Council’s Local Authority Trading Company which provides a range of environmental and housing maintenance services on behalf of the council.

HTS and Harlow Council have issued the following joint statement:

“Negotiations brokered by ACAS (Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service) are ongoing between HTS and Unite to try and reach an agreement. There will be a further meeting between HTS, Unite and ACAS taking place next week. The council is closely following the discussions and is in daily contact with HTS about the situation. The staff are directly employed by HTS who set their terms and conditions, so this is why it’s appropriate that HTS lead the negotiations.

“The HTS workforce do a fantastic job and provide a range of important environmental and housing maintenance services for the town, and we are working to find a solution to the issues raised.

“Plans are already in place to continue running essential services during the industrial action and we regret the inevitable disruption this will cause residents. HTS will continue to communicate with residents whose appointments will be affected. We apologise to residents for any disruption they experience.”

Updates on service provision will be published and communicated to residents on the day of the strikes.