Havering Council has set out its contingency plans for a five-day strike by waste-collection staff that is due to start on Monday 26 October, warning residents that some disruption to bin collections is still likely even with the backup measures in place.
The industrial action, involving workers employed by contractor FCC Waste Management, is scheduled to run from Monday 26 October to Friday 30 October, while the council continues to urge FCC and the Unite union to reach a negotiated settlement.
The council said its priority was maintaining the services residents expect and pay for, and that FCC remains contractually obliged to collect waste across the borough. The contractor has prepared measures intended to reduce the impact — but the council was explicit that its update is a forecast for the coming week rather than a guarantee of normal collections.
What the council expects to happen
Under the stated plan, kerbside recycling and bagged waste are expected to be collected on their usual schedules. The same expectation applies to clinical-waste and bulky-waste collections, and residents using those services have been told to put their waste out as planned.
The council’s position is explicitly provisional: it describes what is expected at present, rather than promising that every round will be completed on time.
Garden-waste and communal-bin collections are the areas most likely to be affected. The council said its housing staff have been kept informed and that locations with particular local arrangements may need priority, including sites with rubbish chutes. It has not supplied a street-by-street list of expected disruption.
Any locations that are not completed are due to be listed each day, allowing residents to check whether their own collection has been identified for catch-up work.
What FCC has put in place
The council says FCC has secured staff from other municipal contracts and agency workers to support the service, and that hire vehicles have also been sourced to help outstanding work be dealt with as quickly as possible.
These measures are intended to minimise the effect of the strike, not to remove the risk entirely. FCC is also expected to deploy resources over the following weekend to help catch up on work that remains outstanding.
Havering’s waste team has contacted the East London Waste Authority to confirm weekend tipping arrangements, as part of the planned recovery work.
Residents have been advised to present their waste on the normal day and to check the council’s updates rather than assume that a collection will be cancelled. The council says it will monitor the impact of industrial action and hold FCC to account for delivery of contractual services, a tougher enforcement stance being taken by several east London boroughs this month.
Although the council is preparing for the strike on these terms, it has not set a timetable for individual recovery collections or provided route-level guarantees. The daily list of outstanding work is therefore likely to be the clearest indication of whether a particular collection has been identified for catch-up.
The dispute
The dispute is between FCC, which operates the collection service for the council, and Unite, which represents the workers involved. More than 40 loaders and drivers are due to take part in the five-day stoppage.
The union says members have raised unresolved concerns about workloads, fatigue, hot-weather working, vehicle safety and welfare. It also highlights pay differences with comparable roles in neighbouring boroughs — with a new-starter loader in Havering paid £12.88 an hour compared with £15.72 in neighbouring Redbridge. These are the union’s claims in an industrial dispute, not findings by a regulator or an independent investigation.
Unite regional officer Nick West said: “Our members don’t want residents to face disruption to bin collections, but it is the consequence of FCC failing to resolve these problems.”
The council says it has continued to encourage both sides to agree a settlement and remains hopeful that one can be reached as soon as possible. It has apologised in advance to residents who may be affected.
The planned stoppage comes during a busy week for the borough, with police still appealing for witnesses after a fatal collision involving a pedestrian and a lorry on the A127 in Havering.
What residents should do
Put your bins out on the usual day — do not assume the collection has been cancelled. Check the council’s updates for the daily list of outstanding work to see whether your street has been identified for catch-up. Garden-waste and communal-bin users should be prepared for the longest waits.
For now, the action is planned, the service arrangements are contingent, and the daily updates will indicate any missed work. Further updates are expected as talks between FCC and Unite continue.
