End Birmingham bin strike, Government urges on first anniversary of walk-out
Members of Unite started a continuous walkout on March 11 last year in a dispute over pay, with little sign of a breakthrough in the deadlocked row
The Government is urging both sides in the long-running Birmingham bin strike to bring the dispute to an end, on the anniversary of an all-out strike by hundreds of workers.
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Members of Unite started a continuous walkout on March 11 last year in a dispute over pay, with little sign of a breakthrough in the deadlocked row.
The union says planned reforms of the refuse collection service will lead to hundreds of its members losing thousands of pounds.
The council denies the claim and is pressing ahead with changes it says are needed to improve the service.
A spokesperson for the Communities and Local Government Department said: “Resolving the strike is a matter for the council.
“But getting back to serving local residents must remain a priority and we urge all parties to bring this dispute to an end.”
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Councillor Majid Mahmood, Birmingham City Council’s cabinet member for environment and transport, said: “The bin strike in Birmingham has gone on for too long.
“I’m sorry for the disruption this has caused, and I would hope Unite would also want to apologise.
“It isn’t good enough and we want to end the dispute.
“But let us be clear, the council has made a series of offers to Unite to end the strike, but they have all been rejected.
“We are moving ahead with the implementation of the improved waste service this summer, a service that has been poor for too long.
“This will see the rollout of food waste collections from June this year on a phased basis, along with the return of improved recycling and green waste collection services.
“This will happen regardless of the situation with industrial action to give the people of Birmingham the waste service they deserve.
“My message to those still taking industrial action is simple: come back to work as I want you to be part of this new and improved service.
“Our door remains open."
The council said a “new, improved service” will roll out in the summer, adding that its contingency plan was ensuring that every household gets a weekly waste collection.
Despite the ongoing industrial action, the authority said it was collecting waste every week from households, with an average of around 1,370 tonnes collected from kerbside every day.