A UNION fears for jobs and service quality if the council hands over its bulky waste collection to a voluntary organisation.

Cheshire West and Chester Council’s executive has approved May Gurney as the preferred bidder for a new single waste collection service across the borough from April next year.

Included are plans for a bulky waste collection and recycling service delivered by Cheshire Furniture Reuse Forum.

But Ray McHale of the West Cheshire Unison branch, said there was a principle at stake in potentially ‘handing over real jobs to volunteers’ and practical issues such as will they be allowed to use council’s vehicles and transfer facilities for items that can’t be recycled.

“This is a heavy job with health and safety implications. We have concerns about amateur drivers and untrained staff using council depots,” he said.

Mr McHale doubts volunteers could guarantee a reliable service even though CWaC now charges residents £15 per item for the previously free facility.

“We have no problem these voluntary sector organisations having first dibs on household or furniture type items, that can be recycled and re-used.

“However, we have significant doubts about their ability to run a service offering this paid-for collection of waste across the borough, for recyclable and non-recyclable waste.”

Cheshire West and Chester Council spokeswoman Laura Johnson said ‘any talk of redundancies at this stage is pure speculation’.

She added: “The Cheshire Furniture Reuse Forum has a proven track record in delivering a high quality, reliable, furniture reuse service to the borough’s residents.”