Dozens of bin workers have walked out today in a dispute over pay – with thousands of homes set to not have their rubbish collected.

The indefinate strike action is being taken by GMB Union members in Canterbury after a breakdown in negotiations with Canenco – the waste contractor set up and owned by the city council.

The union says it secured the mandate for strike action in April, but had agreed to suspend the walkout pending talks.

But members subsequently rejected two increased pay offers and are demanding £16.50 an hour for drivers and £13.15 an hour for all other operatives.

Canenco says it is doing all it can to limit disruption and apologises for the inconvenience.

A spokesman said a number of pay offers had been made during negotiations, conducted with the help of Acas.

“It has to be recognised that there isn’t a bottomless pit of council taxpayers’ money we can draw from...”

"Our latest offer, which has been rejected, was an annual increase of £1,750 across all pay grades, backdated to April 1 this year plus the discretionary £2,000 per year driver retention bonus being incorporated into salaries as a guaranteed payment going forward.

"For drivers, that represents an increase of around 14.2% and an annual salary of £30,149. For loaders, that represents an increase of 8.1% and a salary of £23,441. Crews received an 8% increase last year.”

He added: “It has to be recognised that there isn’t a bottomless pit of council taxpayers’ money we can draw from.

"We are also in constructive talks with our recognised union Unison. Its members have not taken strike action today."

Today, up to 60 GMB members, who form 25% of the workforce but many with critical jobs like drivers, walked out.

No waste trucks left the Canenco depot first thing this morning. The council is still advising homeowners in Canterbury, Herne Bay and Whitstable to leave out their bins as usual for 24 hours, but take them in after that if they are not collected.

It may be that some crews can be put together using managers and non-GMB staff.

GMB regional organiser Frank Macklin says that despite having a Labour leader for the first time since 1994, the industrial relations between Canterbury City Council and GMB could “scarcely have been poorer”.

“Canenco is a wholly owned company and it is well within the gift of council officers and elected members to increase the budget and choose to give our members a proper pay rise which reflects how much people are struggling at the moment, “ he said.

“In an expensive area to live, these workers are not very well paid, and a below-inflation pay rise is not going to change that.

“The economy of Canterbury relies on tourism, and that will be massively impacted by rubbish piling up in the streets, attracting flies and rats in the hot summer weather.

“Perhaps the newly-elected Labour councillors might want to think about that when deciding whether or not to allocate any more money to this key service.”

Labour city leader Alan Baldock said it was “incredibly disappointing” that Canenco had been unable to reach an agreement with the GMB.

But he would not comment on the union’s demand for the city council to fund a further improved offer.

“We have only just picked up the administration and the contract and budget for Canenco was already in place,” he said.

“But we are convening an urgent meeting of the cabinet to work through the situation.”

“We recognise that the cost of living crisis is affecting us all – which includes the council’s finances needed to pay for vital frontline services...”

Council spokesman Rob Davies said: “We urge the GMB and our waste contractor Canenco to resume talks in order to reach a settlement that is fair both to workers and hard-pressed council taxpayers.

"We recognise that the cost of living crisis is affecting us all. That includes the council’s finances which are needed to pay for vital frontline services that thousands of people rely on.

"There isn’t an infinite amount of council taxpayers’ money to draw from and council tax bills can only go up by 2.99%."