Brum bin strike to start

Members of Unite employed by Birmingham council on its refuse collection service will begin strike action tomorrow (February 19), in a dispute over ‘secret payments’ and blacklisting.

Picket lines will be in place at all of the council’s refuse depots from 5am until 2om. The primary focus will be at the picket line at Redfern Road Depot, Kings Road, Typsley, Birmingham B11 2AB.

The dispute is a result of Birmingham council making secret payments to refuse workers who did not take part in the 2017 bin strikes. Unite has argued that the payments amount to the blacklisting of its members and has argued that all workers should receive an equal payment, a proposal rejected by the council.

Peace talks aimed at resolving the dispute collapsed last week, when Birmingham council made a poorer offer than that which was previously on the table.

“Birmingham bin workers are taking strike action as a last resort,” said Unite assistant general secretary Howard Beckett.

“This industrial action is entirely of Birmingham council’s making,” he added. “It was Birmingham council which made secret payments to bin workers who did not go on strike in 2017

“Then, when Unite discovered the secret payments, it was Birmingham council which refused to accept that it had blacklisted our members and refused to make an equal payment to our members.

“Since the dispute began it is Birmingham council which has been deliberately endangering the safety of workers and residents alike by sending out bin lorries without the required safety staff,” he went on to say.

“It is Birmingham council whose actions led to the collapse of peace talks last week by tabling an offer which was worse than the one which Unite had already rejected.

“The resolution to this dispute is in the hands of Birmingham council which needs to end the discrimination and make payments to Unite members equal to what the non-striking workers have already received.”

Unite has produced a short film to explain why the union has been forced to take strike action. Watch it below: