On 16 and 17 July the Unison and Unite Trade Unions are proposing strike action over the national pay dispute for local government workers. A number of city council workers are expected to be on strike over those two days and the city council is warning that some services will be affected.
Rob Hammond, Chief Executive, said "We are trying to keep essential services running and will have emergency cover in key areas such as housing and environmental health. But inevitably there will be disruption. We will not be able to offer the full range of services and there are likely to be delays for customers ringing in. A number of services are available on our website, including online payment of bills, and customers may find this more convenient to use."
Residents may experience disruption to their rubbish collections from 16 July until 25 July. The council may suspend dry recycling collections (paper, glass and tin) where necessary during this period in order to prioritise the collection of normal domestic refuse and green/food waste.
Michael Parsons, Head of Waste and Fleet Management said "We hope that any disruption to our service as a result of the strike action will be rectified as soon as possible and within a week following the strike. We have a contingency plan in place to prioritise our collections to prevent any threat to health. We will be requesting that people put out their bins and boxes as normal.
"If black and green bins are not collected on the normal day of collection we are asking residents to bring them in over night and return them to the kerbside the following morning and continue to do so until the bins are collected. We anticipate that collections will return to normal the week beginning 28 July 2008."
Other services affected:
- the customer service centre at Mandela House will be closed
- the planning reception in the Guildhall will be open but there will be no duty officer service. The land charges office will be closed
- there may be some disruption to Cambridge City Council car parks and Shopmobility
- a meeting of the planning committee was due to be held on Wednesday 16 July at 9.30am. This has now been rescheduled to Friday 18 July at 9.30am at the Guildhall
- a meeting of the community services scrutiny committee was due to be held on Thursday 17 July at 2.30pm. This has now been rescheduled to Thursday 24 July at 2.30pm at the Guildhall.
The easiest way to find out what service are available on 16 and 17 July is to access the city council's website at www.cambridge.gov.uk.
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