Council calls for end to Birmingham refuse strikes

Birmingham city council has said it is keen to find a solution “as soon as possible” to bring an end to ongoing industrial action being taken by its waste collection workers over plans to change their pay and conditions.

But it has also stressed that it will continue with its plans carry out the changes, which it said only affected a “small group” of staff and have to take place to ensure the council implemented equal pay legislation.

The dispute has seen employees of the council's in-house waste collection service holding a one-day strike on December 20, since when they have carried out the bare minimum of work expected – a practice known as ‘work to rule'.

Further strike action is now planned for half day periods later this week (January 13 and 14), with the GMB union concerned over plans to cut £4,000 from the annual pay of 450 fleet and waste management staff.

The union also claimed that the council has said it plans to withdraw the facility for GMB representatives employed by the council on the refuse services to conduct negotiations in work's time, and is going to cut wages by a further 20% in response to the ‘work to rule' action.

Council

Commenting on the current situation, councillor Alan Rudge, cabinet member for equalities and human resources at Birmingham city council, said: “While we are keen to find a solution as quickly as possible, it must be made absolutely clear that the pay and conditions of a small group of fleet and waste management staff did not meet equality laws and therefore had to be revised. Doing nothing or leaving the existing structure in place was not an option.”

In relation to the work to rule approach, he added: “Although we are still in a work to rule situation, the contract of employment states crews work on a task to finish basis. Under these circumstances they have sufficient time to complete scheduled collections.

“This means 80 crews have sufficient time to make scheduled collections from 85,000 households each day.”

The council has employed casual and agency staff, who it says are needed both to meet its statutory collection obligations under public health legislation and also to clear a backlog in collections -caused by the combination of the work to rule action, and the increased volumes of rubbish and extreme weather experienced over the Christmas period.

It said 20 ‘casual crews' worked yesterday (January 5), in addition to the regular crews ‘working to rule', clearing 42% more residual waste than would be collected on a typical Wednesday, noting that significantly higher amounts of waste than normal had also been deposited at the city's five Household Recycling Centres.

GMB

On behalf of the GMB, the union's regional secretary, Joe Morgan, said: “Birmingham city council say that the only way they can introduce equal pay is to level the pay of the men down to that of the women workers. I have a very simple message for the councillors at Birmingham city council. There is no way that GMB members will accept a pay cut of £4,000 a year.

He added: “Birmingham city council must level pay up not down, as their low paid women workers deserve.”

Mr Morgan also questioned the council's willingness to resolve the dispute as quickly as possible, and said: “They have a strange way of going about it. They have withdrawn all the paid time for GMB representatives to do their jobs. They are now threatening to cut pay by a further 20% because our members are exercising their democratic right to take action short of a strike. This will not solve the dispute but inflame it”