21-05-2025
Labour ‘sabotaging' bin strike peace talks
Labour has been accused of 'sabotaging' talks to end the bin strikes in Birmingham.
The Unite union claimed that an offer was 'being blocked' by Government-appointed commissioners who were responsible for the lack of progress in ending the crisis.
The second-biggest union in the country alleged that the 'fair and reasonable' offer being quoted by Sir Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner 'does not exist'.
Its members have now been on an all-out bin strike for more than two months with no signs of an agreement being reached, leading to rubbish piling high across the West Midlands city.
The conciliation service Acas has been involved in talks since the start of the month, but the dispute remains deadlocked.
Unite said the talks set out a clear timeline for a discussed offer to be tabled by the council, but it claimed no offer has been made.
Commissioners were brought in by the previous Conservative government after the council declared itself effectively bankrupt in September 2023.
Unite said: 'What has become increasingly clear is that the offer is now being blocked by the Government commissions and the leader of the council, none of whom have ever been in the negotiating room.
'At the Acas talks, the council side was headed up for the first time by Birmingham council managing director Joanne Roney. She assured the meeting that she was the decision maker and at the table to negotiate. Discussions then took place in good faith.
'This latest debacle comes after it was confirmed that the 'fair and reasonable offer' that the Prime Minister, deputy prime minister and the leader of the council had been briefing to the press, urging Unite to accept, did not exist.'
Unite said it had been asking for a copy of the offer since the start of the Acas talks, but was still waiting.
Sharon Graham, Unite's general secretary, accused Labour of 'lying' to 'bin workers, residents and the public at large', and claimed that comments made by Cabinet minister Steve Reed that the union was 'playing politics' showed 'why there are workers turning away from Labour in their droves'.
Ms Graham said the Government had said for 'weeks and weeks and weeks' that there was a fair and reasonable deal on the table to settle the Birmingham bin workers dispute.
She told Sky News: 'That offer does not exist. I have been in Acas talks and I have asked for that offer to be given to me so I can see it and it does not exist.
'They are now scrambling to put an offer together but that now has to go through the Government commissioners. It's a total and utter shambles.'
On Wednesday she told Sky News: Sky News: 'The issue here is that these workers are the scapegoats for bad decisions by the council. They are trying to push down pay of these workers so that they can deal with their huge debt.
'It's totally and utterly unacceptable. They need to give this deal to the union so that we can see whether it's good enough for our members.
'When you hear a Deputy Prime Minister say, when you hear a leader of a council say there's a fair and reasonable offer on the table, the assumption is that we have that offer in writing. We don't have that offer in writing.
'This is not the way you do negotiation. I have negotiated for 35 years with CEOs across multiple companies. When you are in a negotiation you have the decision-makers in the room. They give a deal and an offer to us and we take it back to our members in writing.
'The clear situation here is that we have not had an offer in writing from the council - and now additionally it's going to have to go through the Government commissioners.'
She added: 'Unite deals with thousands of negotiations every year. From the council side, the negotiations in this dispute have been a shambles, with the government right at the heart of it.
'The offer briefed to the press for all affected workers simply never existed and the new ballpark offer discussed at Acas has now been blocked by Government commissioners. Instead of trying to injunct picket lines and attack workers, the council leader should stop playing games, get in the room and solve this dispute.
'Birmingham city council's bin workers, residents and the public at large have all been lied to.
'The bottom line is that our members can't afford to have savage pay cuts of up to £8,000 with no mitigation. Until that issue is addressed the strikes will continue.
'If Labour is truly the party for workers, how can this Government be aiding and abetting these cuts and once again allowing workers and communities to pay the price?'
Unite said in a statement: 'Talks aimed at resolving the Birmingham bin strike have been sabotaged by government commissioners.'
A ministry of housing, communities and local government spokesman said: 'It is simply false to suggest the commissioners, or the leader of the council have blocked attempts to resolve this deal, and we continue to urge Unite to suspend its strike action and both parties to reach agreement on a fair and reasonable offer.'
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