A frustrated former accountant from Carnoustie has attacked “mismanagement” at Angus Council after bosses admitted spending an extra £26,000 sending updated bin collection timetables.
Grant Wilson, 61, who is now retired, submitted a freedom of information request looking for costs associated with the bin workers strike earlier this year.
Workers in the county went on strike in April after the council introduced a new shift pattern asking some staff to work until 10pm for five days a week.
The strike came to end after workers agreed to a four day week, with the day running from 7am to 4:30pm.
Mr Wilson was told the council had spent more than £50,000 on two mail shots to 60,000 residents – one containing the controversial collection timetable and the other with the revised arrangements required to bring the industrial action to an end.
The first also contained information on how residents could improve recycling, which the council claims has contributed to an upswing in recycling rates across the county.
The first cost the council £23,984 and the second £26,918.
Mr Wilson was advised there had been no extra costs attached to planning and implementing either the controversial changes to the bin workers hours or the new working pattern introduced after the strike.
There was no additional cost as both tasks were carried out by permanent council staff, the FOI response said.
The council response claimed a “net saving” during the strike itself as workers were not paid.
Mr Wilson said he was frustrated at the decisions which had led to the industrial action and was determined to find out how much the fall out from the strike had cost council tax payers.
He said: “It was mismanagement. One again, it was an example of the council getting a decision wrong and particularly in this waste management department.
“I am rather niggled. There are a number of things the council have done. Parking charges are one of them. Then there is the nonsense with the recycling yards and the bin collections. They’ve made an absolute mess of it.”
Unions called off the strike after the two sides agreed on a Monday to Thursday rota, reducing the working week from 37 to 36 hours.
Council bosses predict these changes will still deliver the targeted £160,000 annual saving.
An Angus Council spokesman said: “While the figures provided under Freedom of Information are correct, the conclusions reached are not.”
He said the first mail out provided essential recycling information to households as well as changes to kerbside collections.
“A further one-off mailing, providing information specific to each household, was absolutely necessary following a period of industrial action,” he added.
