The line to the Mugga Lane tip extended for kilometres over the weekend. Photo: Facebook.
The line to the Mugga Lane Resource Management Centre extended for kilometres over the weekend, with some Canberrans waiting almost an hour to drop their rubbish off.
Rubbish piled up at the tip as garbage truck drivers went on strike for the second consecutive week, affecting Monday and Tuesday collections this week.
Residents have had to drop off their own rubbish and recycling at Symonston and Mitchell with no catch-up collections for those who missed out last Monday (2 November) and this Tuesday (10 November).
Hundreds of angry Canberrans took to social media to lash out, calling the consecutive strikes unfair.
“Seriously, one week I was OK with, two weeks and hitting the same suburbs is just a joke,” Lisa Dean wrote.
“Try hitting somewhere else this time or better yet, do a make up run at the very least. We know what point you are making but it’s a bit unfair to strike the same areas twice in a row.”
Monday’s rubbish (9 November) will be collected on Tuesday, and Tuesday’s scheduled collection will not be picked up this week.
A garbage truck driver strike will impact more than 40 suburbs across the ACT. Photo: Dominic Giannini.
Families with two bins and a large amount of rubbish were just as annoyed, only being allowed to drop off three free bags to the tip.
Others cannot even access the free drop off because of difficulties proving residency.
“My son … cannot prove they live in an affected suburb because they have only been renting there for under two months,” Majella Kesby said.
Some Canberrans also took issue with the principle of the strike, criticising drivers on more than $37 an hour asking for more money during a recession. But some still stood behind the drivers, chastising Suez for exercising “corporate greed”.
The drivers’ union is pushing for a 4 per cent yearly wage increase and paid breaks.
“Suez has been negotiating with the TWU in good faith for several months,” the company said in a statement.
“Suez is proposing wage increases of 2 per cent in 2021, 3 per cent in 2022 and 3 per cent in 2023. The company believes this offer is reasonable and fair given the current economic circumstances in Australia where [the consumer price index] over the 12 months to September rose just 0.7 per cent.
“Meanwhile, the CPI forecast for 2020–21 is 1.75 per cent.”
More information on the affected suburbs and free drop off options available can be found here.
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