FURIOUS refuse collectors claim bins will go unemptied across west Wiltshire and jobs will be axed if plans to privatise the service go ahead.

Bin men staged a massed demonstration with their refuse lorries outside West Wiltshire District Council offices on Wednesday night (November 1) to protest against plans to put the in-house Direct Works Service out to a private firm.

The 90 workers claim a private firm will be more interested in making a profit for shareholders than providing a decent service for residents.

The privatisation proposal is just one of a number being looked at by the cash-strapped council in its current waste review.

GMB union shop steward Mark Plumb said the council had been running down the service for years, and had left it without a manager and without the resources to tender for the contract, if it is privatised.

He said: "We have had enough of the way we have been treated recently. We want to stay in-house. A lot of us were here when it was privatised before and we saw our terms and conditions worsen and jobs go when we were with UK Waste.

"We have good terms and conditions with the council, but the council has to put in the resources we need to provide a good service.

"The vehicles are old and poorly maintained and have been breaking down, which means people's rubbish has gone uncollected. We are the ones who get it in the neck from the public, not the managers.

"They have run the service down and now they want to get rid of us, this is all just down to poor management."

The west Wiltshire refuse service has one of the best collection records in the country. GMC regional organiser Frank Minal said the public and the workers would suffer if the service was privatised.

He said: "A private company would be more interested in serving its shareholders than the public.

"These men have seen what happens when the service is run by a private company, as many of them were here when it was run by UK Waste. They know they can provide a better service in-house, if the council would resource it properly.

"A private company would reduce the current terms and conditions, run down the service and reduce the number of people they employ."

Workers' spokesman Paul Barry told councillors workers no longer had any confidence in the council's senior managers, and urged them to keep the service in-house. He also called on them to appoint a new manager immediately.

Council leader Angie Barker said a full report would go before the policy committee next month.

She said: "We are still consulting with staff. We will be having discussions with union representatives."