Bin strike could soon cost Birmingham council around £42,000 a day
Birmingham’s bin strike could end up costing the city council the equivalent of around £42,000 a day by late March.
New figures have revealed that the industrial action, triggered by a dispute between Unite the union and the Labour-run city council, could soon cost the latter at least £19 million.
A new report by Birmingham Council's director of finance Carol Culley recently revealed that the forecast one-off and direct costs of the strike will total £14.6m if the strike continues to the end of March.
These costs include security fees, street cleansing and additional support to tackle the build-up of waste.
The report also confirmed that the cost of lost income from garden waste being suspended is estimated to be £4.4m.
“Residents have been reimbursed the payments for the garden waste service and the service will not be resumed within this financial year,” it said.
Last October, the council’s cabinet approved recommendations that both the direct costs, which were then £9.6m, and loss of income from garden waste be met using the council’s reserves.
It is now proposed to fund the remainder of the direct costs using corporate underspends.
If the strike is indeed still happening by the end of March, it will have rumbled on for 450 days.
If that happens, the industrial action would have cost the crisis-hit council the equivalent of around £42,000 a day, about £1,750 an hour, or £29 a minute.
The bins strike will also have an impact on the council’s ability to make savings through the transformation of the waste service, a crucial project which was previously delayed.
The programme, which will see collections of household rubbish move from weekly to fortnightly, is now planned to be rolled out this summer – regardless of whether the strike is ongoing.
The report said: “The directorate have been asked to identify alternative cost savings and mitigations where possible.
“But it is unlikely that the risks can be fully offset.”
The bin strike dispute between Unite and the council, which remains deadlocked, was initially triggered by the loss of the waste recycling and collection officer role.
The past year has seen striking workers claim they face a pay cut of £8,000, a figure the council has disputed.
The two parties have failed to resolve the dispute despite talks taking place, with the local authority insisting a fair offer had been made.
Negotiations officially came to an end last summer as the council said it had ‘reached the absolute limit of what we can offer’ amid equal pay fears.
The union has claimed that a “ballpark” deal had been agreed last year after hours of discussions but added this figure could not get past the commissioners.
