Unite has accused Birmingham City Council’s lead commissioner and managing director of misleading councillors during a meeting of a key scrutiny committee as the city’s long-running bin dispute continues.
The union said lead commissioner Tony McArdle and managing director Joanne Roney made 'inaccurate and misleading statements' to the corporate and finance scrutiny committee.
According to Unite, Mr McArdle wrongly claimed that the union had ended negotiations and that bin workers were 'demanding huge sums of money'. The union also accused Ms Roney of falsely stating that the council had not brought in agency workers to undermine the strike.
A council spokesperson rejected the allegations, saying Unite had turned down 'all our fair and reasonable offers to end the dispute'.
'Unite continues to demand significant lump sums which are simply unjustifiable and do not represent best value for the council and the citizens of Birmingham. We have to protect the public purse,' the spokesperson said.
The council also denied using agency staff to break the strike.
'We continue to deploy the same number of agency workers on days of action as we would on any normal working day,' the spokesperson added.
