STRIKING council refuse workers in Canterbury have warned bosses to stop using agency staff as scab labour after a judge had declared the practice unlawful less than 24 hours earlier.

General union GMB began action yesterday, the day after the High Court ruled that new government legislation allowing agencies to supply employers with labour to undermine strikes was illegal.

The Canterbury workers are employed by contractor Canenco on behalf of Labour-run Canterbury City Council in Kent.

They have been on strike over pay for eight days, hitting collections from thousands of homes in Canterbury, Herne Bay and Whitstable.

The new law was introduced in July 2022 by then business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng.

It changed legislation which for 40 years had prevented agencies from supplying scab labour to employers whose workers were on strike.

Eleven unions mounted a legal challenge against the new law, which had been rushed through without parliamentary scrutiny, and against Civil Service advice, as strike action in the public sector over pay was spreading.

The unions, led by the TUC, won their case in a ruling in the High Court on Thursday by Mr Justice Linden.

Regional organiser Gary Palmer said: “GMB union has warned Canterbury Council in light of yesterday’s High Court ruling, it may now be breaking the law by using agency workers during a strike.

“Our members are surprised and very disappointed a Labour-led council would use Tory anti-union laws like these to try to break a strike in the first place.

“Now we know it is not only immoral, but unlawful too.

“Yet again we call on the council and Canenco to spend their energy seeking a resolution to this dispute rather than trying to break the strike.

“GMB members are determined and aren’t asking for anything other than the going rate for the job.”

Canenco said in a statement: “We will examine yesterday’s judgement very closely but still expect close to half of our normal crews to be out emptying household waste bins on any future strike days.”