Rubbish is expected to continue piling up in three towns after striking refuse workers snubbed a pay offer this morning.

GMB Union’s indefinite industrial action in the Canterbury district is expected to move into its second week after talks with Canenco, the city council’s own refuse firm, broke down.

Thousands of homes have seen rubbish uncollected in the city, Herne Bay and Whitstable after union members downed their tools early last week.

On Friday, Canenco made its latest pay offer which, it claims, represents a 14.9% pay increase for drivers and 8.9% for loaders.

But GMB, which says the offer translates to a real terms wage increase of less than 1%, rejected the bid following a members’ ballot this morning.

Frank Macklin, GMB regional organiser, said: “Something we learned from the pandemic was that we’ve got a lot of key workers, outside of the NHS and the police, who do very important jobs that unfortunately they get very little reward for.

“When we talk about our successes, where our members have won big rises, we’re not talking about anything massive. We’re not seeing bin men going onto premiership players' wages, we’re seeing them going on to something they can actually live on.

“These guys are doing one of the top ten most dangerous jobs in the UK. The public regularly abuses them, they get assaulted just going about their daily duties, they may even get hit by a car while on the job, as well as the risk of muscular skeletal injuries from all the heavy lifting. They deserve a fair wage.

“The waste has already started to pile up and for that, the GMB and our members apologise but we’re not asking for the moon. They just want a decent wage so they can put food on the table for their families because applause doesn’t put meals on the table.”

Both Canenco and the council have also apologised for the inconvenience of the disruption but the GMB says they are still “drip feeding” low offers and prolonging the action.

While the council alleges just 25% of bin workers are striking, the union disputes this pointing out that the full refuse team is 90 members of staff, of which 60 are striking.

One Canterbury resident, Lauren Parker, 36, whose rubbish had not been collected, said: “It’s clearly not ideal that the rubbish hasn’t been collected and it really smells because of the hot weather so it’s not great really.

“If the council is creating a situation where staff are going on strike they need to find an alternative measure because it’s just an issue of public safety really.

“It’s not that I don’t support the people on strike but the council should really find an alternative way of dealing with it.”

The union, which has rejected three pay offers, said the piles of rubbish could have been avoided if “workers were only paid the going rate”.

Mr Macklin thanked the public for the support they have shown, adding those on the picket line were grateful for the food, milk and sweets people had delivered to them.

He said: “Members of the public have also been showing their support by beeping their horns as they go past.

“The guys got a really big emotional lift the other day when the taxis drove past in a show of solidarity with them. They were really blown away by that.”

A council spokesman said the situation is currently “fluid” and that strike action may continue fo the rest of the week.

In the meantime, they advised that “side waste” – black sacks that will not fit inside bins – will be allowed for the next scheduled collection.

They also said residents can book a slot at their local recycling centre and take their refuse there themselves if they are able to.

A Canenco spokesperson said: “This morning members of the GMB union rejected our latest pay offer of £1,925 to every worker, backdated to 1 April with the drivers’ £2,000 retention bonus being consolidated into their salaries.

“This represents an increase of 14.9% and a salary of £30,324 for drivers and 8.9% for loaders and a salary of £23,616.

“To pay for this offer, Canenco has been forced to use the money it had put to one side to pay for increasing fuel and energy costs. Those costs will be underwritten by Canterbury City Council.

“No more money will be found without reducing the service Canenco delivers and that would need to be subject to public consultation via Canterbury City Council which would take a number of months to carry out.

“We do have a number of crews out making collections. If your black bin or purple sacks collection is due today, please put your bin out as normal.

“If it is not collected after 24 hours, please take it back in and wait for your next scheduled collection. We’re very sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.”