Rubbish is piled up high on streets in Birmingham after nearly six months of a bin strike
A refuse worker collects a bin by uncollected waste bags in the Aston area of Birmingham
A refuse worker collects a bin by uncollected waste bags in the Aston area of Birmingham (PA Wire)
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Talks to end Birmingham’s six-month bin strike have broken down as the city council announced it had reached the “absolute limit” of what it can offer to resolve the dispute.
Members of Unite, which is representing the workers, have been on an all-out strike since early March, leading to rubbish piling up in the streets of the city.
The union began the strike after alleging that the council’s decision to remove Waste Recycling and Collection Officer (WRCO) roles would mean 170 workers would face losing up to £8,000 a year.
The council said the change was necessary as part of a restructuring effort aimed at improving the service and complying with the Environmental Act 2021.
The city’s recycling rate, at 22.9 per cent, is the lowest of any unitary authority in the country with the exception of Liverpool. If it fails to meet the government’s target rate of 65 per cent by 2035, it could face a reduction in grant funding.
Council leader John Cotton said in a statement on Wednesday: “Throughout this process the council has sought to be reasonable and flexible, but we have reached the absolute limit of what we can offer.
“We have negotiated in good faith but unfortunately Unite has rejected all offers so we must now press ahead to both address our equal pay risk and make much needed improvements to the waste service. This is a service that has not been good enough for a long time and we must improve it.
“Unite’s demands would leave us with another equal pay bill of hundreds of millions of pounds, which is totally unacceptable, and would jeopardise the considerable progress we have made in our financial recovery.
“We must be fair to all our staff, and I will not repeat the mistakes of the past by making decisions that would ultimately result in further cuts to services and the sale of more council assets.”
Conciliation service Acas has been mediating talks between the two groups since May.
Spokesperson Kevin Rowan said: "It's unfortunate that this round of talks have concluded without resolution. Acas remains available to both parties should the situation change."