Latest news with #refuseworkers
BBC News
11 hours ago
- Business
- BBC News
Some refuse workers will lose money
The leader of Birmingham City Council has admitted for the first time some refuse workers will lose money under plans to reform the workers who are members of Unite the Union have been in a stand-off with the Labour-run council over proposed changes to roles and pay, since January. In an exclusive interview with the BBC, council leader John Cotton said he "absolutely understood" there would be "implications for individuals", but the authority had to "implement job evaluation fairly across the council". Unite claims 170 workers face an annual pay cut of £8,000, but the authority has said only 17 members of staff lose up to £6,000 - something Cotton had not acknowledged publicly. Cotton stressed that the council continued to negotiate with Unite in order to find a "reasonable settlement" to "reflect the workforce's concerns".He denied claims from Unite that the deal to end the dispute had been "watered down" and said the authority had provided a "fair and reasonable offer", which was being discussed by arbitration body Acas. All-out strike action in the city began on 11 March and rubbish has continued to pile up on streets, but securing a legal injunction in May enabled more bin lorries to to be brought in to clear the mountains of bin bags."Regarding the city as a whole, since we secure the injunction and have been able to deploy our available fleet we have collected 33,498 tonnes and average 1,288 per day which includes weekends," a spokesperson for the city council said."We have cleared the backlog so are now able to continue to implement our contingency plan, providing residents with one collection each week." 'Avoid repeating mistakes' The leader of the Labour-run authority described the situation as "incredibly frustrating" and said it continued to urge Unite to accept the offer it had placed on the table. "This strike needs to end so we can carry on with transforming the waste service and ensuring everyone gets the services they're entitled to," Cotton the council leader added that he had "set some straight red lines" to avoid "repeating some of the mistakes that happened in the past"."We have had to take a look at the grading of the driver roles, that is part of the process we have signed up to together with the trade unions, it is a recognised methodology for evaluating jobs."He said a negotiated settlement was "in everyone's interest" and it would allow the council to "get back to the business of improving the waste service in the city". Follow BBC Birmingham on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
BBC News
25-05-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
MP 'left in the dark' over Birmingham bin strike negotiations
A Birmingham MP says he has been left in the dark over the progress of negotiations to end the long-running bin strikes in his Andrew Mitchell, who represents Sutton Coldfield, urged Birmingham City Council and the Unite union to be more transparent, claiming: "Everything is happening behind closed doors".The Conservative MP's comments came after Unite, which is representing the refuse workers, broke a near three-week silence on the ongoing City Council has previously thanked people for their patience as it seeks to resolve the issue, and says information for residents is available online. "My constituents are having to put up with a dreadful service, the sooner this is settled the better," Mitchell told BBC Politics Midlands. The city council had been granted a court order to stop waste vehicles being blocked from leaving the city's depots, after the authority believed more than 12,000 tonnes of rubbish had been dumped on the streets this all-out strike began on 11 March, however bin collections in the city have been intermittent since the start of has blamed government-appointed commissioners, who have been overseeing the council's operations since its effective bankruptcy, for the apparent lack of progress. "We don't really know what is happening."We don't know if any meetings have taken place," the Sutton Coldfield MP claimed. Labour MP for Wolverhampton West, Warinder Juss, responded to Mitchell and insisted the government were taking the dispute "really seriously". He added that talks were ongoing. In a statement Birmingham City Council said it was committed to ending the dispute, meanwhile the government urged Unite to suspend the strike blamed the council's "appalling industrial relations" for the ongoing dispute and said he hoped the government would consider holding "a judge-led inquiry". "We need to know how we've got into this terrible position," he added. Juss told BBC Politics Midlands: "Ultimately we need to think about the ordinary residents who are suffering". "They've got to be borne in mind," he councillor for Worcestershire County Council, Tor Pingree, said: "It's a Labour-led council, it's a Labour-led national government, surely you can work together with the refuse workers to come to some sort of pay deal". "Birmingham is being buried in rubbish while they all argue," Pingree added. Watch Politics Midlands on BBC One in the West Midlands at 10:00 BST on Sunday. The show will be available on iPlayer BBC Birmingham on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
BBC News
24-05-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Birmingham bin strike: Council court order after lorries blocked
Birmingham City Council has been granted a court order to stop waste vehicles being blocked from leaving depots. The authority believes more than 12,000 tonnes of uncollected waste have accumulated on streets this week as all-out strike action by refuse workers were said to have been disrupted "due to industrial action by pickets" where police recently scaled down their presence. Unite, which is representing workers, has previously said the actions of its members on the picket line are legitimate. Delayed collections during the initial weeks of the industrial action were down partly to picket lines blocking trucks from leaving waste the time, striking workers insisted they were only stopping lorries if they had safety concerns, but ugly scenes prompted Labour council leader John Cotton to condemn what he called "violence". West Midlands Police last week said a threshold for using special powers was no longer being met but it would "continue to have a presence" at depots. However the council said the move had led to an "increase in disruption at our depots, with workers and vehicles being prevented from doing their jobs". Late on Friday, the council said it had secured an interim injunction which would last until Thursday when a further legal hearing will take place. "Everyone has a right to protest [but] the council has a public health duty to uphold and clearing waste is central to this," it said."This is not something we wanted to do and have given Unite many opportunities to co-operate with us and avoid this course of action." All-out strike action began on 11 March but rubbish collections have been disrupted since the start of January. The row is now focused on proposed cuts to the pay of bin lorry drivers, with talks entering their 11th week. Unite has blamed government-appointed commissioners, who have been overseeing the council's operations since its effective bankruptcy, for the apparent lack of secretary Sharon Graham said negotiations had been "a shambles" and called on the council leader to "stop playing games, get in the room and solve this dispute"."The bottom line is that our members can't afford to have savage pay cuts of up to £8,000 with no mitigation," she said. The BBC has contacted the union for its response to the court order. Follow BBC Birmingham on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
BBC News
23-05-2025
- Business
- BBC News
More than 12,800 tonnes of uncollected rubbish in Birmingham, council says
Birmingham City Council says 12,803 tonnes of uncollected waste have accumulated on the streets of the city this week, as an all-out strike by refuse workers council said only a small number of waste trucks had been deployed since police scaled down their presence on picket lines last were severely disrupted "due to industrial action by pickets" at three waste depots in the city.A Unite spokesperson said the actions of its members on the picket line were legitimate and accused the council and government-appointed commissioners of blocking a deal to end the strike. A council spokesperson previously said that "very few" of its waste lorries had been able to leave two of its waste depots on 15 May due to actions by picket BBC has been told a small number of waste trucks have been allowed to leave the depots in order to clear waste deemed to pose a fire risk, mainly at high-rise strike action by members of the Unite union began on 11 March in a row which focuses on proposed cuts to the pay of bin lorry drivers, which the union said would cost workers £8,000 per aimed at resolving the long-running strike, now in its 11th week, have been taking place between the Labour-run council, the union and conciliation service Acas since the start of collections have been disrupted by industrial action since the start of authority said it was re-grading the roles to avoid further equal pay disputes but that it was "committed to making a revised offer" which did not compromise the council "financially or legally".The council has paid out over £1bn in equal pay claims over the last two decades after staff in female-dominated roles were historically underpaid in relation to male-dominated positions.A fresh bill of £750m, later reduced to around £250m, was a key factor in its effective bankruptcy in 2023.A major incident was declared by the council in March as rubbish began to mount up on the streets, and days later police used powers under the Public Order Act to ensure trucks could leave the Midlands Police said the threshold for using those powers is no longer being met, but they "continue to have a presence" at depots across Birmingham. Follow BBC Birmingham on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
BBC News
18-05-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Striking Birmingham bin worker says PM living in 'la-la land'
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer was living in la-la land for calling on union workers to end their strike, a striking Birmingham refuse worker driver Dave Callaghan said he was sorry the city looked a mess and was gaining a bad reputation but that workers could not stand by and watch people lose Prime Minister's Questions, Sir Keir said the government supported the Labour-run council and called on Unite to end its strike workers have been taking all-out action for 10 weeks in a dispute which now focuses on plans to cut pay for drivers. The council said the changes were part of a regrading exercise aimed at avoiding future equal pay claims. The equal pay issue, which relates to claims staff in female-dominated roles were historically underpaid in relation to male-dominated positions, was one of the key factors in the authority declaring effective bankruptcy in 2023, when it said it was facing a bill of £760m to settle the are Birmingham's bin workers on strike?Bin strike exposes divide between rich and poorI haven't had my recycling collected since JanuaryUnite the Union bosses said the council's stance over the refuse workers pay amounted to a 'fire and rehire' situation. Dave Callaghan, a lifelong Labour voter who has worked in the refuse service for 35 years, said he was ashamed of the council and the government and would never vote for them to Politics Midlands, Mr Callaghan said he had been involved in three previous rounds of industrial action, but this strike had cost him thousands in lost wages as well as taking a toll on his mental health. "This is the hardest strike I've ever done, being out for so long in one go," he said."The 300 strong on the picket line is humbling really, because everyone feels the same." He said the council's plans to regrade drivers were shocking and unfair but he had sympathy with residents impacted by the disruption."None of us want to be out on strike but as a union member we've got to be able to do something as we're losing £8,000," he said. "I'm sorry to the people of Birmingham that it looks a mess and we're giving Birmingham a bad rap, but we can't just stand by and lose that kind of money."Sir Keir said the government was supporting the council to make sure a backlog of waste, which at one point totalled more than 17,000 tonnes, did not strike escalated again last week when West Midlands Police scaled back it's operation at the picket to end the dispute are ongoing. Meanwhile, Labour MP for Birmingham Erdington Paulette Hamilton said collections in her constituency had been "quite regular" due to the extra resources deployed by the she called on the authority and Unite to "sit down and sort this out". "We have to understand that this strike is something we need to end. Residents in Birmingham are tired of it," she Ade Adeyemo, the leader of the Liberal Democrat group on Solihull Council, said Birmingham had experienced so much disruption during the strike that Labour would see repercussions at the next local election."They are going to pay a very heavy price. People in Birmingham are totally fed up of having waste piling up everywhere," he said. Follow BBC Birmingham on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
