SIPTU’s membership across the Waste Sector has grown dramatically in the last nine months, increasing by over 70%, as workers in the industry get organised across the country. SIPTU organisers have been on sites and depots of all major providers in the last number of months and will be increasing site visits from September.
SIPTU Sector Organiser, Pat McCabe, said: “Employers are on the back foot and have been responding to our organising campaign by offering financial inducements to workers in response to it.
“We have a real opportunity to make a fully unionised waste sector a reality. Think what that would look like. Waste workers are essential workers to the Irish economy much more so than airline pilots. Look what the Aer Lingus pilots achieved through a one-day strike and a work-to-rule. Imagine if 7,000 waste management workers stopped working for a day.”
He added: “You deserve decent pay, a safe work environment, good pension and sick pay, and most important of all, respect at work. If we work together, through the union, we will achieve these goals. Now is the time to organise, now is the time to join SIPTU.”