Birmingham bins strike deal could happen within weeks says city council leader

The leader of Birmingham City Council has revealed that a bins strike deal could be officially agreed within weeks in a major update on the long-running industrial action.

The strike, triggered by a dispute between the council and Unite the union, has been rumbling on now for more than a year and a half.

During that time, Birmingham has been plagued by heaps of rubbish and tales of rats the size of cats as well as fears that the second city’s reputation has taken a hammering.

But there is seemingly a light at the end of the tunnel according to Birmingham Council leader Roger Harmer, who has suggested a breakthrough could be around the corner.

“I’m not going to announce the end of the bins strike I’m afraid,” the Lib Dem councillor said during an interview with BBC Radio West Midlands. “But I can give an update on where we are.

“The process we need to go through is to get a deal arranged and then that has to go through various checks.

“When that’s happened, we’ll take it to cabinet and when cabinet approve it and Unite get approval from their members for it, then we’ve got a deal.

“The way the timeline looks, we are looking at going to cabinet in late September-early October with a proposal [that sides have agreed to].”

He confirmed they were hoping to have a proposal that’s signed off and officially agreed by around that time.

“That’s what we’re aiming to do,” Councillor Harmer said. “I’m not going to commit to a specific date but that’s the ballpark area we’re looking at.”

On the negotiations which have taken place in recent weeks, he said: “Everybody involved in it is intensely frustrated with the time it’s taken to resolve this.

“We came into administration in June and in that first month we said to [council] officers ‘go away, start negotiating with Unite’.

“We agreed with Unite at that point we wouldn’t have a running commentary on [the negotiations] because both sides felt that calm and quietness would actually allow things to progress.”

He went on to say the negotiations were very complex and that “extra time” was needed to make sure a proper resolution was reached.

The dispute between the council and Unite was sparked over the loss of the Waste Recycling and Collection Officer role.

The previous Labour administration at the council argued that a fair offer had been made to striking workers, who claimed they face a pay cut of £8,000.