Birmingham City Council has declared a major incident to address the impact of the long-running bin strikes in a move branded by Unite as ‘disgraceful strike breaking’.
Declaring a major incident will enable the council to carry out street cleansing and fly-tip removal by using an additional 35 vehicles and crews around the city.
Cllr John Cotton, leader of Birmingham City Council, said the move was ‘regrettable’ but added that the lack of waste services was ‘causing harm and distress’.
A statement from the trade union Unite accused the council of strike breaking and of wasting taxpayers’ money on agency workers.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: ‘Birmingham council could easily resolve this dispute but instead it seems hellbent on imposing its plan of demotions and pay cuts at all costs. If that involves spending far more than it would cost to resolve the strike fairly, they don’t seem to care.’
The ongoing industrial dispute relates to the loss of the role of waste recycling and collection officer that Unite argues would mean 50 staff could lose up to £8,000 a year.
Birmingham City Council says the current offer on the table would mean ‘no worker need lose any money.’
