‘Goodwill gesture’

Unite has rescheduled tomorrow’s (February 26) intended Birmingham bin strike as a ‘gesture of goodwill’ in a bid to break the deadlock.

Three days of peace talks, hosted by the conciliation service Acas, between Unite and Birmingham council have failed to reach a deal to end the industrial action over ‘secret payments’ and the ‘blacklisting’ of bin workers.

The final day of the talks (February 26) failed to adequately progress. The talks were attended by the council officers only with the leader of the council and the councillor for waste being absent. Those same council officials then left the talks at lunch to attend Birmingham council’s budget meeting.

Despite this disappointing response, Unite’s Birmingham bin workers’ representatives, have met and decided as a ‘gesture of goodwill’ to reschedule tomorrow’s strike, to give the council a final chance to come forward with an acceptable offer to end the dispute.

Unite assistant general secretary Howard Beckett said, “Unite representatives cannot be on a picket line and attend Acas. They have decided to reschedule tomorrow’s strike as a gesture of goodwill to the people of Birmingham and to show their clear intent to use all efforts to reach a resolution.

“Birmingham council needs to grasp this gesture and fully understand that it is drinking in the last chance saloon. If a deal cannot be agreed tomorrow then further strikes action will resume on Thursday,” he added.

“It has been hugely disappointing that Birmingham council has failed to appreciate the urgency of securing a deal and their actions today saw them effectively run the clock down rather than reach a deal to end the dispute.

“Birmingham residents are crying out for the council to show leadership to end this dispute. Tomorrow is the final opportunity before further strikes take place.

“If talks are to be successful then the council needs to make offers that ensure parity with the secret payments that they have already paid to workers who did not take part in the 2017 strikes.”

Last week saw two separate 24 hour bin strikes, which resulted in large-scale disruption to the refuse collection service.

If a deal to end the strikes is not agreed tomorrow (February 27) then the strikes scheduled for Thursday (February 28) and next month will go ahead.