Rubbish bins are being left uncollected on the streets of Birmingham after hundreds of refuse collectors walked out indefinitely.
Nearly 400 council bin workers in the UK’s second-largest city have stopped working after voting to extend their strike mandate.
They have walked out over Birmingham City Council’s use of temporary labour to “undermine” their industrial action, the Unite union said.
Pic: PA
General secretary Sharon Graham said: “The disgraceful use of unlawful labour to try and break the strike has just resulted in industrial action escalating. The only way this dispute will end is by halting the brutal and unnecessary attacks on our members’ pay.”
Unite said in a statement on Tuesday that 150 workers face pay cuts of up to £8,000 after the council scrapped waste collection and recycling officer roles.
However, the council has disputed this figure, saying workers won’t lose this amount.
According to the union, workers have already voluntarily accepted cuts to pay and terms and conditions after the council declared bankruptcy.
Unite warned its action could continue into the summer, but national lead officer, Onay Kasab, said councillors could “end this dispute tomorrow by agreeing to pay a decent rate of pay”.
Mr Kasab accused officials of “forcing dedicated workers on to pay levels barely above the minimum wage” while “wasting millions on expensive employment agency fees”.
He said the council, which he described as “heartless”, had “slashed pay without a thought to the effect it is having on workers and their families”.
In a statement issued at the end of February, Birmingham City Council said residents faced “greater disruption” and insisted it had made a “fair and reasonable offer” to the union.
Only 40 workers will have their salaries affected by its proposed changes, it said, and they have already been offered alternative roles, “including highly valuable LGV driver training for career progression and pay, and other roles in the council equivalent to their former roles.
“No worker will lose the sums Unite are claiming,” it said.
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Craig Cooper, strategic director of city operations at Birmingham City Council, told BBC Radio West Midlands that 90 out of 200 waste collection crews are still out collecting bins.
He said people should still put their bins out and crews would get to them when they could.
Zoe Mayou, Unite regional officer, said the amount of police in attendance at the picket line at the Atlas Depot on Kings Road in Tyseley, was “overkill” and said the officers “should be out doing other jobs”.
By 5pm on Tuesday, more than 4,000 people had signed an online petition demanding the council action immediately “to resolve the ongoing failures in recycling and household rubbish collection”.
Sky News has contacted Birmingham City Council for comment.
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