Latest news with #binstrikes
Times
13 hours ago
- Business
- Times
Birmingham bin strikes could last until Christmas after new vote
Birmingham bin strikes could last until December after union members voted to continue industrial action on Thursday. The Unite union said its members voted by 97 per cent to continue the strikes, which have left much of the city littered with bin bags in recent months, causing concerns over public health. On-and-off strike action has been taking place since January when an initial 12 walkouts were scheduled over four months. Bin collection workers then announced unlimited strikes on March 11. Disputes were initially over the removal of waste recycling and collection officer roles but later expanded to include the local authority's decision to hire temporary workers, which the union claims will 'undermine' strikes. Birmingham council insisted on Thursday that it had made a 'fair and reasonable' offer to bin workers. But Sharon Graham, the Unite general secretary, said: 'After smearing these workers in public since January and telling them to accept a fair and reasonable offer that never existed, the council finally put a proposal in writing last week. 'True to form, the proposal came weeks late and was not in line with the ballpark offer discussed during Acas talks in May. It had been watered down by the government commissioners and the leader of the council despite them never having been in the negotiations. 'It beggars belief that a Labour government and Labour council are treating these workers so disgracefully. It is hardly surprising that so many working people are asking whose side Labour is on. 'The decision-makers at Birmingham council need to get in the room and put forward an acceptable offer. Unite will not allow these workers to be financially ruined — the strikes will continue for as long as it takes. 'Unite calls on the decision-makers to let common sense prevail in upcoming negotiations.' Birmingham council denied Graham's claims that the bill had been watered down and said its bin collection service needed to be changed entirely. The council said: 'This is a service that needs to be transformed to one that citizens of Birmingham deserve and the council remains committed to resolving this dispute. 'We have made a fair and reasonable offer that we have asked Unite to put to their members and we are awaiting their response.'
BBC News
25-05-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
MP 'left in the dark' over Birmingham bin strike negotiations
A Birmingham MP says he has been left in the dark over the progress of negotiations to end the long-running bin strikes in his Andrew Mitchell, who represents Sutton Coldfield, urged Birmingham City Council and the Unite union to be more transparent, claiming: "Everything is happening behind closed doors".The Conservative MP's comments came after Unite, which is representing the refuse workers, broke a near three-week silence on the ongoing City Council has previously thanked people for their patience as it seeks to resolve the issue, and says information for residents is available online. "My constituents are having to put up with a dreadful service, the sooner this is settled the better," Mitchell told BBC Politics Midlands. The city council had been granted a court order to stop waste vehicles being blocked from leaving the city's depots, after the authority believed more than 12,000 tonnes of rubbish had been dumped on the streets this all-out strike began on 11 March, however bin collections in the city have been intermittent since the start of has blamed government-appointed commissioners, who have been overseeing the council's operations since its effective bankruptcy, for the apparent lack of progress. "We don't really know what is happening."We don't know if any meetings have taken place," the Sutton Coldfield MP claimed. Labour MP for Wolverhampton West, Warinder Juss, responded to Mitchell and insisted the government were taking the dispute "really seriously". He added that talks were ongoing. In a statement Birmingham City Council said it was committed to ending the dispute, meanwhile the government urged Unite to suspend the strike blamed the council's "appalling industrial relations" for the ongoing dispute and said he hoped the government would consider holding "a judge-led inquiry". "We need to know how we've got into this terrible position," he added. Juss told BBC Politics Midlands: "Ultimately we need to think about the ordinary residents who are suffering". "They've got to be borne in mind," he councillor for Worcestershire County Council, Tor Pingree, said: "It's a Labour-led council, it's a Labour-led national government, surely you can work together with the refuse workers to come to some sort of pay deal". "Birmingham is being buried in rubbish while they all argue," Pingree added. Watch Politics Midlands on BBC One in the West Midlands at 10:00 BST on Sunday. The show will be available on iPlayer BBC Birmingham on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
Telegraph
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
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. 'Workers turning away from Labour' 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.' 'This is not the way you do negotiation' 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?' 'Fair and reasonable offer' 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.'
BBC News
07-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
Birmingham bin strike 'King rat' postbox topper appears
'Rats the size of cats' postbox topper appears 7 minutes ago Share Save Shehnaz Khan BBC News, West Midlands Share Save Moseley Knit and Natter Group Residents have previously spoke of seeing some "rats the size of cats" amid the strikes A knitted postbox topper featuring the infamous phrase "rats the size of cats" has appeared on a street corner in Birmingham amid the city's ongoing bin strikes. The woolly king rat, sat on top of a mound of knitted black bin bags and holding a crown and cheese sceptre, has been placed on top of a postbox at the Alcester Road and Chantry Road junction in Moseley. The topper, which also features a knitted wheelie bin and pizza boxes, was created by members of the Moseley Knit and Natter Group. Member Naomi Green said the group "wanted to have a bit of fun" and "bring a smile to the community" as the dispute continued. Refuse workers started an all-out strike in March and residents began to complain about infestations of "cat-sized rats" as uncollected waste piled up on city streets. The matter was even raised in parliament in March, with Wendy Morton, Conservative MP for nearby Alridge-Brownhills, saying the "squeaky blinders" were not welcome in her constituency. Moseley Knit and Natter Group A "king rat" with a crown and cheese spectre sits on top of a mound of knitted bin bags on the postbox Ms Green said the topper, which was put together by five people over about a month, was created in the "spur of the moment" when the group was deciding what to knit next. "People have seen the funny side [of the strikes]," she said. The knitwork also features a rodent eating chips covered in ketchup and a larger one feasting on a carrot and a sandwich. Ms Green said, since its creation, people had been contacting the group to ask where they could see the topper and stopping by to take photos. "People are paying homage to king rat," she said. Martin Mullaney, a community activist and former councillor in Moseley, described the knitwork as the "coronation of the rat king". "I think it's amazing," he said. "It's a work of art, it's got humour in it." "Bristol has got Banksy, eat your heart out, we've got our mystery Moseley knitters," he added. Moseley Knit and Natter Group The postbox topper was created by members of the Moseley Knit and Natter Group Birmingham's long-running bin strikes, now in their eighth week, are part of an ongoing dispute between the city council and the Unite union over bin workers' pay. Talks aimed at resolving the dispute are taking place with conciliation service Acas. Follow BBC Birmingham on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
