Municipal officers have recommended the council award a long-term waste and recycling contract worth millions of dollars to Cleanaway ahead of local company Foott Waste.
Councillors will vote on the matter on Tuesday, April 11.
The recommendation has been questioned by critics, given Cleanaway has had difficulty collecting the rubbish for Melbourne council Hobsons Bay due to a lack of drivers, was last year fined $600,000 for environmental offences in NSW and has ongoing industrial disputes with its workers.
The last of those points has been highlighted by the Transport Workers Union announcing the intention of its waste worker members to take protected industrial action for 24-hours on Tuesday across City of Sydney, Randwick (residential waste), Canberra, Erskine Park (commercial waste) and Silverwater (hospital waste).
TWU NSW/Queensland secretary Richard Olsen said workers were being treated “horrifically” by Cleanaway management and called on the organisations that hire the company to demand better conditions for its employees.
“City of Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore has buried her head in the sand while other councillors have joined workers’ calls for Cleanaway’s principal clients to intervene,” he said.
“It’s time for those with the ultimate power and influence — Cleanaway’s customers — to take responsibility for working conditions in the waste services they depend on.”
The TWU said workers were battling attempts to force them to work weekends and longer shifts while losing entitlements, such as overtime rates.
Cleanaway workers at multiple sites in Victoria and in Noosa, Queensland, recently voted for the right to strike in protected action ballots, while a similar decision is being considered in Western Australia.
The company has previously told the News it negotiates with its workers with the intention of finding reasonable resolutions, and that it has a record of good relations with its 51 workers in Shepparton.
“Cleanaway entered into bargaining with the TWU in good faith to ensure our employees receive the most fair and reasonable agreement,” the spokesperson said.
“In November 2022 the workforce across regional Victoria (including Shepparton) voted on and accepted a new Enterprise Agreement with no industrial action.”
The TWU also claims Cleanaway has a poor health and safety record after a number of incidents, including multiple fatal road accidents involving the company’s vehicles.
The company said it learnt from any environmental and safety breach to improve its operations across all sites.
“Following incidents, Cleanaway takes the opportunity to learn and to consider means to further improve environmental risk management and safety risks,” the spokesperson said.
“This is undertaken with a view to minimising the risk of any future incident of a similar nature from occurring across all Cleanaway sites.”
Cleanaway told the News the region would greatly benefit if it won the Greater Shepparton contract.
“In the event the Greater Shepparton City Council contract is awarded to Cleanaway, many jobs in the local area will be created,” the spokesperson said.
