The National Union of Public Workers is warning government it will have a fight on its hands if tries to privatise the Sanitation Service Authority and advises he Stuart administration not to renew the current arrangement with private waste haulers when the six-month contract expires at the end of March.

NUPW General Secretary Rosland Smith issued a statement this morning seeking to make sure the government clearly understands the union’s position on the matter. She says the SSA workers feel they are now ready to take on the garbage collection workload without any outside help. She said, “we have been meeting with the workers and they have informed us that they have a fleet of 20 trucks and they are ready to take over the routes that have been given to these haulers. I think part of the issue is that these haulers are cleaning the routes and then the SSA workers are asked to go behind them to fully clean the area.

Ms. Smith says the NUPW is prepared to fight any attempt at whole sale privatisation. “We, at the NUPW, will stoutly defend those workers or those institutions if government decides to just ship them off.”