Birmingham bin strike to continue as deal rejected

A strike of Bin workers in Birmingham is scheduled to continue after the last salary sacrifice of the city councilor was rejected “Noverhelmentically.”

It follows a one -month confrontation between the members of the Unite Union and the Labor Authority, since the container bags and the garbage full of flies have stacked in the streets.

Unite said that the “partial” sacrifice of the municipal council was “totally inappropriate” and did not address possible salary cuts for 200 drivers.

The Council has previously said that the offer on the table was fair.

Unite’s national leading officer, Oona Kasab, said that 97% of those who voted rejected the Council Agreement, with a 60% participation.

“They could see through what this call meean, simply failed to deal with all the problems and also stuck the lie,” he said.

The general secretary of the union, Sharon Graham, said that the rejection “was not a surprise since these workers can simply not allow to take salary cuts of this magnitude to pay the price for bad decision after a bad decision.”

The dispute focuses on the Council to eliminate the roles of the recycling and waste collection (WRCO).

The union argued that it was an important health and safety role and that some 170 affected workers faced the loss of up to £ 8,000 per year due to the decision, with hundreds more losing the perspective of the wage progression.

A spokesman for the City of Birmingham said the vote was “incredible disappointing”, but the authority “remains open.”

They affirmed that Unite proposals focused on retaining a role that did not exist in other tips and that the advice could open to more salary claims, since garbage collection is a job done by men.

The statement said that a “fair and reasonable sacrifice” was made while suggested “all employees affected by the elimination of WRCO’s role assumed an equivalent qualified role in the Council, LGV driving training or voluntary redundancy packages.”

Speaking last week, the councilors said with those agreements in their place no worker “needs to lose a penny.”

However, on Monday, Kasab said that the result of the ballot was proof that the dispute was more than “simply about 17 workers”, a number previously cited by the counter.

He said: “These are large salary cuts and hundreds of people, it is time for us to all sit down, no more negative information, and we achieve a negotiated resolution and solution.”

A garbage collector told the BBC on Monday that the mood among his colleagues was “powerful”, while another said that the feelings remained unchanged.

“As much as we want a resolution, none or we willing to lose money,” they added.

Local Government Minister Jim McMahon said that the “deeply disappointing” result of the vote would be added to the interruption weeks.

“The great effort to eliminate orders portfolio has already seen about 11,000 tons of waste collected, and will now continue to the rhythm to protect public health while the dispute remains,” he said.

At the end of March, the Council declared an important incident, saying that some 000 tons of garbage were aligning the streets of the city.

Some residents have also informed an increase in rats and other vermin.

Adam Yasin said his Mercedes had been “completely discarded” only one week because the rats had chewed through electrical cables.

The 33 -year -old man from Balsall Heath said: “Due to that certain wiring, the car would not begin.

“They said they need to recover the entire car again, but the insurance company said it was too much expense.

“It has really been a bathroom, as special where I live, there are many or restaurants there.”

In recently, military planners have been called to help deal with the situation.

Viceprimer Minister Angela Rayner said it was not “boots on the ground”, but that it would help to clarify.

Other neighboring authorities have also intervened to help clean the trash.

“We have more than two thirds of clear garbage from the streets now, this week we begin to see the cleaning of the pavements and the streets, as well as the authorization of all that garbage, I am very good for that,” Rayner said.

“Children are out of school; obviously, they are Easter vacations, we want that garbage to be clarified.”

Sadia Khan, the president of Friends of Spark Green Park, said that while sympathized with those who are on strike, “rejecting another sacrifice will only make the entire population much more sick.”

She said that dead cats had been found in the parks and said it was due to a theme of the thematic rats to reduce the growing problem of the vermin.

“I know it is a financial crisis that people are struggling to drive, and everyone deserves a better salary, but there is a limit for how long can continue,” he said.

“How much can the health of a population risk? About one million people will look very, very affected by things if it continues.”

Last week, Health Secretary Wes Streeting said it was very concerned about the public health situation In Birmingham.

Meanwhile, the local authority faces criticism, for pressing forward with plans to change from weekly collections to biweekly, while the strike is not resolved.

The brochures about the change appeared in the boxes of letters of the residents, but Martin Mullaney, a former councilor of Moseley and Kings Heath Ward of the city, said that the moment was “inensible political.”

The residents of the state of the brochures will have a new green recycling container to be collected biweekly, a food container to be collected weekly and a black container that will be collected biweekly in alternative weeks to the recycling collections.

Althegh, a total strike began on March 11, there has been a series of interactive strikes since January and some residents have told the BBC that they have not collected in 2025.