Birmingham bin strikes are 'just getting stronger' according to Unite
Unite members have been out in Alum Rock
Unite the Union has told us support for the bin strikes in Birmingham is 'getting stronger'.
Workers are striking over pay and conditions and have been striking all-out since March.
'More people are coming out'
Members of the Union met in Alum Rock yesterday (21st Nov), part of Birmingham Ladywood MP Shabana Mahmood's constituency who is also Home Secretary.
They are calling for local leaders to get negotiations back underway to solve the long-running dispute.
Onay Kasab, from Unite, told us they have resulted to bringing the problem to the back yards of local leaders:
"The reality is that we are not seeing people go back to work, in fact more people are coming out to take strike action.
"We do not want the city to look dirty. We are ready to negotiate, whenever the Council wants. If they do not, we have a mandate which says we can strike for another 6 months," he said.
'We really cannot give in'
Matthew Reid's a striking bin worker and told us support is growing: "When people haven't got the inconvenience of not having their bins collected, they see the argument.
"We are losing £8000 pounds a year. The public look at themselves and ask whether they can afford that loss. The answer is no.
"We are striking until we get a fair deal. The toll financially and mentally has been unimaginable. We really cannot give in after so long," he said.
What do Birmingham City Council say?
A previous statement from Councillor John Cotton, Leader of Birmingham City Council said:
“Throughout this process the council has sought to be reasonable and flexible, but we have reached the absolute limit of what we can offer. It is well known that the council has an equal pay risk, we have been negotiating since before Christmas but have now run out of time.
“We have negotiated in good faith but unfortunately Unite has rejected all offers so we must now press ahead to both address our equal pay risk and make much needed improvements to the waste service. This is a service that has not been good enough for a long time and we must improve it.
“Unite’s demands would leave us with another equal pay bill of hundreds of millions of pounds, which is totally unacceptable, and would jeopardise the considerable progress we have made in our financial recovery. We must be fair to all our staff, and I will not repeat the mistakes of the past by making decisions that would ultimately result in further cuts to services and the sale of more council assets.
'Deliver a better waste service'
“Successive administrations have failed to close off the council's equal pay liabilities, costing the people of Birmingham hundreds of millions of pounds and that must end now.
“We need to deliver a better waste service; creating an efficient, improved service is a crucial part of our need to become financially sustainable and is what the people of Birmingham need. We cannot delay this any longer.
“So, we will be communicating with our staff and trade unions as to next steps. Voluntary Redundancy remains on the table, as do opportunities for training and redeployment across the council.
“We have worked really hard to end this dispute and we apologise for all the disruption and appreciate residents’ patience. This is a service that needs to be improved into one that the residents of Birmingham deserve and I am committed to ensuring that happens.”
We have contacted MP Shabana Mahmood for comment.