Birmingham bin strike to continue as ‘totally inadequate’ offer rejected

Birmingham’s month-long bin strike is set to continue after bin workers yesterday voted “overwhelmingly” to reject an offer by the city council.

The action by members of the Unite union, which began on 11 March as part of a dispute over pay, has seen thousands of tonnes of rubbish go uncollected and warnings of a public health emergency.

The workers went an indefinite strike in protest at Birmingham City Council’s decision to remove waste recycling and collection officer roles from some workers as well as cuts to their pay.

Unite said the latest offer by the council to resolve the action was “totally inadequate” as it did not protect workers from potential pay cuts of up to £8,000.

Unite’s national lead officer Onay Kasab said 97% of those who voted rejected the council’s deal, on a 60% turnout.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “For weeks, these workers have faced attacks from government and their employer pushing the lie that only a handful of workers are affected by the council’s plans to cut pay by up to £8,000.

“Instead of peddling untruths about these low paid workers and focusing on winning a media war, the government should have taken the time to check facts and used its office to bring the council to the table in a meaningful way.

“The rejection of the offer is no surprise as these workers simply cannot afford to take pay cuts of this magnitude to pay the price for bad decision after bad decision,” Graham added.

A spokesperson for Birmingham City Council said the vote was “incredibly disappointing” but that authority’s “door remains open”.

Deputy prime minister Angela Rayner met council leaders in early April to try and resolve the action, amid claims that rats “bigger than cats” were now thriving among the rubbish. Military planners have also been called in to help tackle the mounting piles of rubbish.

At the end of March, the council declared a major incident over the ongoing strike. This enabled officers to bring in an extra 35 vehicles and crews to ramp up its street-cleaning operation and fly-tipping removal. It estimated that there were over 17,000 tonnes of uncollected rubbish in the city at that time.

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