Wollongong City Council union members have vowed fees will not be collected at the Whytes Gully tip or the leisure centres at Beaton Park and Dapto as industrial action continues to hit the organisation.

Members of the United Services Union listened to the council general manager Greg Doyle this morning and decided there was not enough "meat on the bone" for an agreement, the union said.

Industrial action started last week over what USU organiser Rudi Oppitz said were problems with the way bullying and harassment were handled at the council.

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Meetings since had attempted to resolve the situation after the USU said there was "one rule for staff, and another rule for upper managers".

After one staff member was dismissed, the USU said unfairly, and another threatened with dismissal, union members walked off the job in a snap strike on Wednesday.

There had been talk of a ban on overtime, which could have affected rubbish bin collection as thousands of people prepare to spend the Christmas weekend on Wollongong beaches.

But instead, Mr Oppitz said there wouldn't be fees collected at the leisure centres or the rubbish tip until January 18, when another "report back" meeting was scheduled with the council staff.

"The discussions we've had with council have been for some degree positive but there's still a very long way to go," he said.

"We'll be holding further discussions with Greg [Doyle] this afternoon, and we'll see where that goes.

"There was a resolution that was passed - that there will be a further report back meeting on the 18^th of January next year to our members. In the meantime there's a matter before the Industrial Relations Commission.

"The members resolved that at the tip and the leisure centres, they won't be collecting fees. That resolution was put to the membership and it was passed, it was carried."

A spokeswoman for the council said the development was disappointing.

"We focus on a positive workplace culture and value our people," she said.

"We have been working positively and proactively with the United Services Union on their concerns and we will continue to do so.

"We are disappointed with the steps taken following this morning's unauthorised stop-work meeting.

"We assure our community we're working through any potential implications of this unauthorised action, which has caused confusion, and apologise for any disruption."

The council said Beaton Park pool was to be closed for much of this period.

"The resolution from the unauthorised meeting has asked union members not charge fees for community members to use Wollongong Waste and Resource Recovery Park (Whytes Gully), pools, leisure centres and libraries.

"These facilities remain open at this time.

"Community members will continue to pay to use our heated pools at Dapto and Corrimal as the payment points are not managed by Council. Beaton Park pool will be closed for scheduled maintenance from December 23 to January 28.

"All council's other pools are always free to access and remain open for swimming.

"There is no change to household waste services and city cleansing services.''

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