CANTERBURY City Council’s contractor has been paying a £20 daily bonus to refuse collectors not to join a strike, GMB has said.

The union said it was more than the pay increase being demanded by its members, which the Labour-run authority has claimed it cannot afford to pay until January 2024.

Dozens of workers employed by Canenco, the council’s own waste collection firm, walked out July 5.

GMB regional organiser Frank Macklin said: “We have seen the evidence that Canenco are paying this bonus to workers, but if I hadn’t seen it, I wouldn’t have believed it.

“What Canterbury council and their contractor are paying workers to break the strike exceeds what it would cost them to resolve the dispute.

“This Labour council is trying to starve our members back to work and as far as I’m concerned, they’re just Tories in disguise.

“I’ll say it again: if [council leader] Alan Baldock and his friends at Canenco can find the money to pay this bonus, they can pay our members the £12 and £15 rates they have already agreed to, just from now and not next year.”

GMB said it has seen the payslip of a worker who was paid £20 per day throughout August as a bonus for not taking strike action.

The council has been contacted for comment.

Earlier this month, Cllr Baldock said its offer of £15 an hour for drivers and £12 an hour for loaders from January 2024 was final.

The council claimed this represented an extra percentage increase of 4.6 per cent on the previous deal agreed with Unison in July, up to 12.2 per cent overall.

A Canenco spokesman said: "We have never been prouder of the Canenco workers who continue to work incredibly hard while some GMB members have been on the picket line.

"The payment, which is to recognise the flexibility they have shown rather than a bonus, has been paid for from some of the savings made from not paying striking workers' salaries and goes some small way to recognising this.

"After income tax, National Insurance and pension contributions, Canenco staff were given a £455 one-off payment which equates to £9 per day in their pockets over the length of the strike so far.

"We urge the GMB and its members to accept the incredibly fair 12.2% offer on the table for 2023 and get back to work.”