Bin strikes in a Kent district have finally ended after 67 days as workers have agreed to accept an improved pay offer.

A number of refuse collectors in Canterbury have downed tools since July in a dispute over wages.

Members of the GMB union were demanding £12 an hour for loaders and £15 for drivers, and twice rejected offers that fell short of these rates.

A third deal met the pay levels requested, but was again snubbed as the city council’s waste contractor, Canenco, said the hike would only be introduced from January, and not backdated to April this year.

Today, however, workers have agreed to return to work after Canenco agreed to pay the increased wages from November 1.

The offer was put to GMB members by the independent arbitration service Acas, and voted through.

The union’s regional organiser, Frank Macklin, described the deal as a “bumper pay offer”, adding: “GMB could not be prouder of these members.

“They have gone from earning barely above the minimum wage for some loaders to accepting a bumper 11.2% increase for drivers and 12.2% for loaders.

"This is what solidarity looks like; these workers have stood together through every twist and turn and supported each other through a massive strike.

“This must send a clear message to Canenco and Canterbury City Council these workers will not put up with low pay and poor treatment again.

“GMB would like to thank the residents of Canterbury for their visits to the picket line, food and donations to the strike fund.”

While the strikes have been ongoing, reduced crews have been concentrating on collecting household and garden waste, with recycling rounds suspended.

It emerged this week that non-striking workers picking up the extra slack had received a £700 ‘bonus’ payment for their efforts.

Canenco says staff who took part in the industrial action will return to work on Monday.

The city council says money to fund the pay rises will come from savings made by not paying striking workers over the last nine weeks, “forensic future efficiency savings”, and borrowing of up to a maximum of £40,000 from the council’s savings or reserves.

Council leader Cllr Alan Baldock (Lab) said: “We are happy that the strike is over.

“We know it has been inconvenient and disruptive for many people over the summer.

“We apologise for all the inconvenience and we thank residents for their patience.

“We’ve been clear this council will make financial decisions that are sensible and sound. We can’t spend money that isn’t there.

“In order to afford these pay rises, weeks of work has gone into calculating new routes, new efficiencies and forecasting future staffing models.

“Crews will be required to more regularly work close to their contracted hours, which is how operations in other areas of the country and in Kent are run.

“Some round sizes will be increased slightly in line with those working hours, but will be balanced to make sure work is allocated fairly for those affected.

“The pay rise was afforded from within Canenco’s budget by making these changes.

“We have had to dip into the council’s savings which are there to get us through shocks like unforeseen emergencies.

“Our reserves, which will be used to underwrite the cost of the extra garden collections Canenco has promised for March, will need to be replenished as soon as possible.

“In order to bring forward our pay rise offer to a November start, Canenco has also been forced to use some of the money saved from not paying striking workers, with the rest being used to pay for extra resources to help us catch up and for extra garden waste collections in March.

“We were clear to the public and the GMB from the beginning that we wouldn’t cut other services to meet these pay demands and that stands.

“I know Canenco and its crews will now work really hard to do all they can to catch up.”

The council says collections today and tomorrow will continue to be only for scheduled black bins and as many garden bins as possible as an instant return to normal services is “not possible purely for logistical operational reasons”.

It says this is because​ refuse trucks​ have been moved to other areas of the district during the strike​ in order to keep as much of the service operational as possible.

The authority adds that a full waste collection service will resume “as soon as possible”.

A spokesman said: “Further information about this and the arrangements for collecting extra waste outside of bins will be publicised in the near future.”