The Horror Stories of Agency Workers

 Agency Worker Binman Dies while sick on the job

UNTIL recently when the Unite union passed a policy decision last year the union had no proper policy on the employment of agency workers.  In January 2018, a scandal occured in Greater Manchester in Bury Council's waste depot at Bradley Fold when a manager and an agency worker was in a scuffle following a dispute in which the boss had dismissed the agency worker's appeal that after 8-years working full out as a refuse worker for Bury Council he should be taken on full time.

The local police were informed about the incident when the manager sporting a black eye contacted them.  Following further inquires the police asked the branch secretary for a crime number but Human Resources at Bury MBC said the refuse manager, Glenn Stuart, had reported the incident and only he could supply the crime number and Mr. Stuart faled to reply to a union request for more information on this case.

The agency worker had told the local Unite branch secretary that the police wer reluctant to act because it was only his word against the manager and there were no other witnesses as the incident occured in the office of the manager and the blinds were down.

London Death of a Binman

On the 25th, July, a 45-year-old man became ill while labouring on a shift on a Veolia refuse lorry whe temperatures hit 37C.  The man, who has not yet been named, working for only his second day on the job collapsed while emptying bins in Thornton Heath, south London.  Private Eye reports that the man 'wasn't a Veolia employee, but had been hired in as cover from an agency.'  Also neither Veolia nor Croydon council made any public statement about the death until they were force to do so by the local media.

Local anecdotal reports from the staff of Veolia has suggested that the lad had been feeling unwell and had rung up his spervisors to ask if he could go home,  It is alleged that he was warned that if he didn't finish his shift, he wouldn't be given further work.

Despite this a later announcement  issued to the Croydon Guardian newspaper by Veolia now contradicts the earlier statement.  Veolia's new story has been changed to say that the agency worker was taken ill 'without warning'.  Private Eye reports that so far Veolia's PR word spinners have refused to explain why they changed their story.

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