Bin strikes in Canterbury are set to continue until October after workers rejected a “final” pay offer for the second time today.

Dozens of staff employed by Canenco - Canterbury City Council’s own waste collection company - walked out on July 5.

Three separate pay deals have since been rebuffed, with the last now voted down twice following a second ballot this morning.

The GMB union, which represents the workers, says the industrial action has been extended until October 1 as a result.

It means recycling bins across the district will continue to go uncollected as the remaining crews focus only on household and garden waste rounds.

GMB members on strike want £15 an hour for drivers and £12 for loaders.

The latest offer meets their pay demands, but the deal on the table comes with two caveats.

The first is that any pay hike will not be implemented until January next year, and the second that workers will no longer be able to clock off early after finishing their rounds.

Bosses at Canenco say the policy - known as ‘job and knock’ - will have to end if it is to find the £300,000 it says it needs to fund the rises.

The money would be raised by cutting the use of agency staff, with permanent employees picking up bigger rounds as they work their full contracted hours.

Council bosses say the offer meets the workers’ demands in full and reflects working practices – and pay - in neighbouring districts.

They add that the January implementation of the uplift is again in line with other areas, and has been accepted by the GMB elsewhere in Kent.

But last week 98% of GMB members rejected the offer, and this morning a second vote against it was unanimous, with workers snubbing what the city council’s leader has called “a good day’s pay for a full day’s work.”

It followed further talks yesterday involving the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) - a government body acting as mediators in the dispute.

Initial negotiations last week were said to have been “cordial”, with members yesterday hopeful of receiving a new offer.

But GMB regional organiser Frank Macklin says this week’s talks “wasted everyone’s time”, as members were only asked to vote again on the same deal.

Mr Macklin claims Canenco - through Acas - was “practically begging” binmen to return to work.

“Were they ever taking it seriously?” he said.

“ We believe it was just them doing a tick-box exercise just to say they’ve done it.

“This time round we’ve had a resounding 100% rejection of that offer. Members are very angry and frustrated that the company has done what it’s done.”

Mr Macklin added that the pay offer starting only from January was “not good enough.”

He also argued that through bringing “job and knock” into the negotiations, the council is “trying to stir up ill feeling between the public and the bin workers,” by suggesting binmen are lazy.

“Unless there’s movement from the council it doesn’t look like these guys show any signs of cracking or going back to work for the foreseeable,” he said.

Members of Unison - the recognised union at Canenco - previously accepted an offer of £14.45 and £11.61-an-hour respectively, which has been applied to all workers and backdated to April, including GMB members.

Canterbury City Council says yesterday’s talks took place for Canenco to provide feedback to the GMB on an option it put forward for the higher rates to be paid as soon as members return to work.

A spokesman said: “The implications of this were fully assessed and that option is not affordable, because time is needed to put the operational changes into place. This was conveyed to the GMB during the meeting, through Acas.

“Canenco was also clear to the GMB that 'job and knock' is not ending, and that while crews will be working much closer to their contracted hours, if the day's work has been completed they will be able to finish early as they do currently.

“While Canenco is always willing to sit down and talk with the GMB, it can go no further in terms of its pay offer as it is simply not affordable.

“We apologise to residents who are experiencing disruption to their collections. Canenco continues to run a full black bin service every day and is emptying around 60 % of scheduled garden bins.

“Everything is being done to provide as much of a service as possible, but Canenco is restricted in its use of agency staff due to a recent legal ruling.”