Richmond Council has announced waste and recycling collections will resume tomorrow (Tuesday, 18 October) following successful negotiations between Serco, Richmond Council's provider, and the GMB Union.

All collections this week will be one day later than usual, to allow for Monday's missed collections to be recovered.

Monday's scheduled bulky waste collections will be recovered on Tuesday. All other bulky waste booking will be collected on the booked day. All online services will resume as normal.  

Cllr Gareth Roberts, leader of Richmond Council, said: "We are as frustrated as residents that this strike went ahead today unexpectedly. Negotiations between Serco and GMB on Friday afternoon agreed an enhanced pay offer and it was expected that strike action was off the table. However this was rejected by members in a ballot first thing this morning, against GMB's recommendation.  

"Negotiations continued today and an agreement has now been reached that means services will resume tomorrow. Thankfully, with the support of the Council, Serco and GMB were able to reach a deal and the impact of this strike action has been minimal." 

This morning, Nub News reported that council rubbish collections had been halted with immediate effect following unsuccessful pay negotiations for Serco employees.

Serco Contract Manager, Harry Oakley, said earlier today: "We are deeply disappointed that our enhanced pay offer was rejected this morning, against the recommendations of the GMB, and todays strike action is taking place.

"We remain committed to working in partnership with the GMB and have further meetings scheduled for today.

"In line with our national Recognition Agreement framework and dispute procedure, (we) will engage with ACAS conciliation if necessary.

"We would like to offer our apologies to residents for any disruption resulting from this action."

Paul Grafton, GMB Regional Officer added: "Our members aren't asking for the moon, just a pay rise that reflects how hard they work every day, come rain or shine.

"This is physically demanding work that nobody notices until it doesn't get done.

"The members don't want to take strike action, but this their last resort if they want to secure an hourly wage which will ensure they're not worse off than they were last year."

However, successful talks between the three parties this afternoon has now led to services resuming as normal from tomorrow. It is unclear where this leaves Serco employees fight for better pay, with the current offering falling significantly below the current inflation rates.