Birmingham bin strike talks break down as council quits

Talks over Birmingham’s bin strike have broken down with the council leader saying the authority was “walking away”.

Conciliation service Acas has been mediating in the negotiations since May, but now leader John Cotton has said the authority has “reached the absolute limit” of what it can offer.

Mountains of rubbish have been seen across the city since bin collection workers walked out in January, with an all-out strike going on since March.

Cotton said the council had negotiated in good faith but the union, which has been approached for comment, had rejected all offers the authority has made.

He also said the authority would “press ahead to both address our equal pay risk and make much needed improvements to the waste service”.

The plan does mean waste service staff jobs would be axed, Cotton explained, with voluntary redundancy options remaining on the table, as well as “opportunities for training and redeployment across the council.”

The union walked out on strike after claiming 170 workers would face losing up to £8,000 a year due to the council’s decision to remove Waste Recycling and Collection Officer (WRCO) roles.

However, the authority maintains that under its proposals, far fewer workers would see their annual pay reduced.

Cotton said the council would continue to provide its contingency bin collections and said he was keen to bring recycling and green waste collections back “on stream”.

While being committed to creating an “efficient, improved service” that meets the city’s needs, the leader said he would not “jeopardise the considerable progress we have made in our financial recovery” by offering more to bin workers than was affordable.

“We still stand 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,” Cotton added.

Leader of the council’s Conservative opposition Robert Alden, said the refuse service needs to be “back up and running, the bins emptied and the streets cleaned”.

He said there had been calls for months over putting “firm deadlines on offers” rather than allow “constant moving of the goal posts.”

The council said a transformed service would help boost the city’s recycling rate of 22.9%, which is the lowest of any unitary authority in the country, with the exception of Liverpool.

If it does not meet the government’s target rate of 65% by 2035, it could face a reduction in grant funding.