Sanitation Workers Protest Working Conditions and Pay, Seeking Resolution Over Delayed Incentive Payment and Representation Dispute

Sanitation workers walked off the job on Monday in protest over working conditions and pay, backed by a union leader not recognised by the Sanitation Service Authority (SSA) management.

But the industrial action has almost certainly set the workers’ recognised union, the National Union of Public Workers (NUPW) on a collision course with the Unity Workers Union which called out the workers despite its unofficial status.

The workers are demanding better compensation and respect, with one spokesperson saying: “It’s really unfair to many of us, and we need more respect and better conditions.”

The dispute centres on a proposed incentive payment that workers say has been delayed for months despite funds being provided by the government as far back as February.

Caswell Franklyn, general secretary of the Unity Workers Union (UWU), has strongly criticised the SSA bosses.

“The money has been paid into sanitation, and there’s no excuse for a four-month delay,” he said. “We want the money now.”

Franklyn accused the SSA of trying to deprive workers of the incentive money intended for them.

He also hit out at the National Union of Public Workers (NUPW), the sanitation workers’ recognised union, saying it was complicit in exploiting workers owing to political ties.

But NUPW General Secretary Richard Green denied this, saying his union had consistently improved workers’ terms and represented their interests through established negotiating processes.

“We advocated for a fair distribution of incentives,” he said, adding the NUPW was not formally sanctioning the current action.

The workers voiced frustration at perceived inaction despite promises, with one saying “Management just tells us to go back to work and promises to solve our problems, but nothing changes.”

They also raised concerns about difficult working environments, lack of manoeuvring space for trucks and issues over unpaid wages.

Franklyn vowed the UWU-backed protest would continue until demands were met, threatening it could withdraw support for other unions’ strikes.

The industrial action has brought to the fore rising tensions between the NUPW and the UWU.

The UWU’s Franklyn accused the NUPW of being a “minority union” at the SSA and not doing enough for workers. He dismissed suggestions the protest was politically motivated.