REFUSE workers in Newham may have lost more than £20,000 each in pay over the past decade due to bad management, a trade union claimed today.

Unite said that bosses at Newham Council have failed to live up to an agreement signed between the union and senior management in 2007.

The agreement was intended to ease the progression of refuse employees on the national pay scales, and to ensure smoothness in pay increases.

However, the union has alleged that the council has failed to honour the agreement, estimating that the potential loss of pay for workers could be approximately £1,760 a year.

This would amount to an average of £21,000 over the past 12 years.

The allegations came as it was announced that 45 refuse workers will begin balloting for strike action from April 23 to oppose poor pay.

Unite regional officer Onay Kasab said: “It is a stain on this council’s reputation that it has ducked-and-dived in avoiding honouring this agreement. 

“The council bosses have admitted that they failed to implement the scheme, but, curiously, they have not been able to say why they agreed to it in the first place when they had no intention of implementing it.

“This is an issue of basic trust and if the employer is allowed to get away with not implementing the agreement, then it will be emboldened to do so again and again – eventually affecting every council employee adversely.

“Time after time, we have asked the council to implement the scheme, but it has continuously declined to – and that’s why we are holding this strike ballot to show that employers can’t ride roughshod over freely entered into agreements to the detriment to our members.”

The council is currently reviewing its operations and stakeholder relationships after the election of Rokhsana Fiaz as Mayor of Newham in May 2018.

The former council leader and mayor, Sir Robin Wales, was deselected as the mayoral candidate by his local Labour Party in a major political upset to the Blairite wing of the party.

Newham Council has been contacted for comment.