News, West Midlands
PA MediaThe Unite union says if Birmingham City Council puts in writing “what it is saying in public” a deal in the bin dispute “would be much closer”.
In a statement, it claimed the authority’s leader John Cotton said that Waste Recycling and Collection Officer (WRCO) workers moving “sideways” would not lose pay, but this had not been guaranteed long term by the council.
The authority has been invited to comment, while earlier, Cotton told the it knew “services haven’t been delivering for parts of the city well enough for long enough” and wanted to find a negotiated solution.
More talks were expected on Wednesday, following union members’ rejection of the council’s latest pay offer on Monday.
Hundreds began an all-out strike on 11 March, in a standoff with the Labour-run council that has led to bin bags and fly-tipped rubbish piling up on streets.
In Wednesday’s statement, Unite said: “Speaking to the this morning ahead of fresh negotiations, council leader John Cotton said, ‘we’re in a position where nobody needs to be losing income’.
“If this is true and guarantees were put in writing as part of a new offer, a deal would be much closer.”
The guarantee of no loss of pay for hundreds of drivers was not put in the last offer, it added.
Unite said the union and drivers on strike had been told during talks their pay was likely to go down from £40,000 to £32,000.
It stated: “For WRCO workers who do not wish to make a sideways move, the council are saying in public that they will get a one-off payment of £16,000 which would cover two years’ loss of £8,000 in pay cuts.
“Again, if this is true this needs to be put in writing.”
On Tuesday, the council said the amount of uncollected waste had peaked at 22,000 tonnes, and it was on track to clear a backlog by the weekend.
‘Needs reform’
Cotton told Radio 4’s Today programme on Wednesday: “We want to find a negotiated solution to this.
“But what we cannot do is take steps that result in us creating further equal pay problems for the council, or indeed prejudice in our budget position, and also the service fundamentally needs reform.
“We know that the services haven’t been delivering for parts of the city well enough for long enough, and that’s something that we need to change.”
The leader stated the council had “to be undertaking a full job evaluation process” and it was “doing this in partnership with the trade unions using a nationally recognised job evaluation methodology”.
Cotton said the authority was “absolutely focused” on ensuring clearance of the accumulation of waste, and it would be “addressing any incidents” that had arisen around pest infestation.
