Negotiations surrounding the Birmingham bin strike have collapsed entirely, with the city council leader announcing the authority is “walking away” from discussions.
Acas, the conciliation service, has been mediating negotiations since May. However, council leader John Cotton stated the authority has “reached the absolute limit” of its offers.
Significant amounts of uncollected waste have been visible throughout Birmingham since bin collection workers initiated industrial action in January, with a full-scale strike underway since March.
Mr. Cotton stated the council engaged in good-faith negotiations, but the union, which has been contacted for comment, rejected all proposals presented by the authority.
He further indicated the authority would “press ahead to both address our equal pay risk and make much needed improvements to the waste service”.
Mr. Cotton explained the plan entails redundancies for some waste service staff, with voluntary redundancy options remaining available, as well as “opportunities for training and redeployment across the council.”
While Mr. Cotton previously asserted “nobody needs to lose out”, he conceded last month that certain refuse workers would experience a reduction in pay under the council’s proposals.
The union commenced strike action following claims that 170 workers would face potential losses of up to £8,000 annually due to the council’s decision to eliminate Waste Recycling and Collection Officer (WRCO) positions.
In May, Unite union leader Sharon Graham characterized the regrading of bin workers as effectively “fire and rehire.”
“They have said to these workers that, ‘The job that you do, the pay that you get, you either do that job now for £8,000 less or go’,” Ms. Graham stated.
“In any other situation we would be calling this out as fire and rehire. Equal pay does not mean you cut the pay of workers.
“It’s supposed to mean you push up the pay of women, if it’s commensurate with the role that men are doing.”
One bin worker, a union member who requested anonymity, told the BBC that the council’s offer was insufficient.
“For them to say they are walking away when they haven’t come to the table is absolutely absurd,” he said.
“All we want as refuse workers is to go back to work. The majority of us live in the city that we also work in. We just want all this sorted out.”
However, Mr. Cotton maintained that while committed to creating an “efficient, improved service” meeting the city’s needs, the authority would not “jeopardise the considerable progress we have made in our financial recovery” by exceeding its affordability limits in offers to bin workers.
He affirmed that the council would continue contingency bin collections during the strike and expressed eagerness to reinstate recycling and green waste collections “on stream.”
Robert Alden, Leader of the council’s Conservative opposition, stressed the need for the refuse service to be “back up and running, the bins emptied and the streets cleaned.”
He indicated there had been repeated calls over months to establish “firm deadlines on offers” rather than allowing “constant moving of the goal posts.”
Mr. Cotton emphasized that the authority remains ready “to engage constructively if Unite want to engage constructively. But, what is most important here is the people of the city and the need to deliver a waste service that works for everybody”.
The council stated that a transformed service would contribute to improving the city’s recycling rate of 22.9%, currently the lowest among all unitary authorities in the country, with the exception of Liverpool.
Failure to meet the government’s target rate of 65% by 2035 could result in a reduction in grant funding.
Residents of the UK’s second city describe enduring months of strikes and accumulating refuse.
John Cotton asserts the authority continues to urge Unite to accept the existing offer.
The Lord Mayor adjourned the full council meeting due to repeated disruptions from the public gallery.
Sandwell Council mistakenly distributed its leaflet regarding bin collection changes to Birmingham residents.
Collections faced severe disruptions due to “industrial action by pickets” at waste depots.