More than 40 refuse loaders and drivers working for FCC in Havering are due to take five days of strike action from Monday 26 October, after voting to walk out in a dispute over pay, staffing, workloads and workplace safety. The planned stoppage could disrupt household waste collections across the borough, but it has not yet taken place and talks between the contractor and Unite are continuing.
What is being disputed
The workers are employed by FCC Waste Management, which provides Havering Council’s refuse service. Unite says members have raised concerns with management since FCC took over the contract in 2023. The union says those issues remain unresolved and that the workforce has authorised industrial action. The announced dates are 26 to 30 October inclusive: five days, not a confirmed period of missed collections.
Workload and fatigue are central to the union’s case. It says crews routinely work overtime to complete rounds and that the number of rounds and workers has not kept pace with additional housing in a borough it describes as geographically larger than most London boroughs. That is the union’s account of staffing and service pressure; the contractor has not publicly answered each allegation individually.
Unite also alleges that crews continued working during summer heatwaves without shortened shifts, unlike refuse and other manual workers in some other boroughs, and says some loaders suffered heatstroke. The union has raised vehicle safety and welfare concerns as well. These are claims made in an industrial dispute, not findings by a regulator or an independent investigation. No details have been provided publicly about the number of workers affected by heat illness or any specific vehicle incidents.
Pay figures cited by the union
The dispute also concerns hourly pay. Unite says a newly recruited loader in Havering is paid £12.88 an hour, compared with £15.72 for an equivalent role in neighbouring Redbridge. For new drivers, the figures it gives are £17.24 in Havering and £19.89 in Redbridge. The union says the Havering loader rate is 17 per cent below the new London real living wage of £15.45 an hour. That comparison is the union’s calculation, and the published material does not set out differences in job grading, benefits or contractual terms between the boroughs.
Unite says there are related concerns about agency staff who were allegedly told they would be offered permanent contracts, but have not received them. It argues the staffing and pay questions affect both working conditions and the reliability of collections. The wider service context is that Havering residents fund council services through local taxation, while the waste operation is delivered under an outsourced contract.
Employer and council positions
FCC Environment says it has met Unite and that discussions are ongoing as the parties work towards a resolution. The company says it remains open to further direct talks and hopes constructive dialogue will continue. It has declined to negotiate through the media and has not provided a detailed response to the specific claims about overtime, heat exposure, pay comparisons, staffing or vehicle safety.
Havering’s cabinet member for public realm says the council is aware of discussions between FCC and Unite about issues raised by union members. The council has urged both sides to work constructively towards an agreement, said it will remain in close contact with FCC and continue monitoring developments, and expressed hope that negotiations can avoid unnecessary effects on residents and essential services.
The council’s role is distinct from the employment dispute: FCC employs the affected workers and Unite is negotiating on their behalf, while the council commissions the collection service. The council has not announced a separate settlement or confirmed a specific contingency collection schedule in its response. Residents should therefore distinguish the announced risk of disruption from any confirmed changes to their collection day.
What happens next
The strike dates are prospective. The parties could still reach an agreement before 26 October, and the council has publicly called for dialogue. If no settlement is reached, the five-day action could affect collections, but the precise neighbourhoods, waste streams and recovery arrangements have not been set out in the available public statements.
The next substantive update will need to clarify whether negotiations have produced an agreement, whether the action will proceed, and how any missed collections would be managed. Until then, the announced dates and the union’s stated reasons describe a developing labour dispute, not proof that refuse services have already been interrupted.
