Bin services for over 130,000 customers set to be hit by two-day strike next month

Siptu served notice of industrial action to take place on April 2 and 3 on Bord na Móna Recycling today. The union said the action will stop the company’s domestic waste collection services on those dates.

The commercial semi-state company provides wheelie bin and waste collection services to domestic and business customers in Leinster and Munster.

Siptu said the strike will impact Bord na Móna Recycling domestic waste collection services in counties Carlow, Dublin, Kildare, Laois, Limerick, Louth, Offaly, Meath, Tipperary, Westmeath, Wexford and Wicklow.

Today’s News in 90 seconds – 18th March 2025

Staff at Bord na Móna Recycling backed industrial action by a majority of 95pc in the dispute over the imminent sale of the company earlier this month.

Bord na Móna is on the brink of selling the waste business to KWD Recycling.

Siptu divisional organiser, Adrian Kane, claimed the management of Bord na Móna Recycling has carried out a plan to privatise the company behind the backs of its workforce.

He said no legally sound guarantees have been provided to Siptu members that their “hard fought for” terms and conditions of employment will be maintained by a new employer.

“The deal to privatise the state’s last publicly owned domestic waste collection service has been structured in a manner which doesn’t provide the workers with the legal protections to their terms and conditions of employment which is normal in such a transfer of owners,” he said.

He claimed management has refused to provide the workers with the legal protection of a Registered Employment Agreement to ensure their standards of employment are not reduced and that under their new employer they can maintain their right to collectively bargain.

“Our members have been forced to take this course of action,” he said.

“They are calling upon the loyal customer base of Bord na Móna Recycling to support them in this action, as protecting the manner in which the company operates will ensure that they will not be victim to massive increases in bin charges and ensure the service maintains its record of adherence to the highest standards of environmental legislation.”

Pat McCabe, Siptu organiser, said this is the final opportunity for the company and government to engage seriously with union representatives on the future of this “key public service”.

He said union representatives will meet with Bord na Móna Recycling management this Thursday.

“We are also renewing our request that the Minister for Climate, Environment and Energy, Darragh O’Brien, meets with a delegation of Bord na Móna Recycling workers and union organisers to discuss this move by the state out of waste management and recycling,” he said.

He said the minister has the final responsibility concerning whether this service is sold and if members are to have their terms of employment protected. “The buck stops with him and he should have the decency to hear the workers’ side on the issues surrounding this proposed sale,” he said.

The Irish Independent has asked Bord Na Móna for a comment.