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NEW BATTLELINES HAVE BEEN DRAWN IN THE ESCALATING FEUD BETWEEN BIRMINGHAM CITY COUNCIL AND THE UNION UNITE, WITH HAPLESS RESIDENTS CAUGHT IN THE CROSS FIRE. JANE HAYNES EXAMINES WHAT THE

HELL IS GOING ON 05:00, 10 Mar 2025 An all out bin strike is about to get under way in Birmingham. Not for the first time in our city's recent tumultuous history, the streets of

Birmingham are filling up with unemptied bins as the council and the workforce union Unite lock horns. It's the worst possible advert for a city that is striving to show it is coming

out the other side of a massive financial crisis. Amid all the claims and counter claims, with the two parties involved locked in negotiations that are going nowhere fast, it can be hard to

see what's really going on. Who is the villain, the peacemaker, the friend, the foe? READ MORE: COUNCIL URGES BIN WORKERS TO END STRIKES WITH TWO-WORD RESPONSE AFTER CASH PAYOUT

REJECTED Do the striking binmen have a valid case? Do they warrant the public's backing? Are they being treated badly by the council? Article continues below And what do the council

have to say? Commissioners brought in specifically to support industrial relations are heavily implicated in what's happening, amid claims they are running the show and directing

negotiations. And where are the city's political Labour leaders, who have ducked interviews and refused to take questions about the issue? Many of them are members of the very union

that the council is at odds with. There are also claims that Unite General Secretary Sharon Graham, up for re-election next year, is keen to show leadership of the Birmingham situation to

make political headway. Unite have rubbished the claims. Stuck in the middle, as usual, are hapless residents. From tomorrow (Tuesday March 11), the strike that has been under way since the

New Year is set to escalate dramatically. Around 350 striking bin workers represented by Unite plan to down tools every day after securing a mandate to do so. The feud could yet escalate

even further. A second ballot is under way to decide whether or not to extend the strike into the spring, with a summer of discontent and chaos on the cards. Drawing on inside information,

conversations with bin workers, unions and council sources, this is my take on what is happening and why. WHAT IS THE STRIKE ABOUT? On the face of it, the industrial dispute unfolding is

about a council decision to delete a Grade 3 job role, affecting 170 binmen. All have been offered the chance to retrain as LGV drivers or take an alternative role, but with a paycut that,

at the most, is around £8,000. Alternatively they can take voluntary redundancy. A one-off settlement, said to be worth £7,000, has also been thrown in. Most of those affected have taken an

offer, but 41 have said no. All are members of Unite union, one of the three main council unions and often portrayed as the most 'militant'. Industrial action has resulted. It

would appear then to be a row about job losses and changes to pay and conditions. A second issue has also now emerged - the council's use of agency staff, allegedly to plug gaps left by

striking binmen, which is contrary to accepted practice and employment laws. The council deny doing so, and say they continue to rely on agency workers to do 20% of the work in the waste

service; the union says they have evidence that the true figure is much higher, around 40%, and rising. This is the new battleground. But still this doesn't amount to the full story.

BIN WORKERS AT CENTRE OF EQUAL PAY CLAIMS The Waste and Recycling Collection Officer (WRCO) role was introduced as part of the so-called Clancy deal struck between then leader John Clancy

and the bins union in the aftermath of the bitter 2017 bin strike. Workers in female dominated council departments have since successfully argued that the role was introduced as a sop to the

unions, and has allowed local bosses to 'enrich' the grading and pay of long-serving bin loaders. Multi million pound claims are now being settled on this basis. Commissioners and

external auditors have both said the role has to go, or risk more equal pay claims. The service is also implicated in more equal pay claims on the grounds that binmen were being allowed to

adopt a 'task and finish' approach and clock off early while being paid for working their full hours. Grant Thornton's external auditor to the city council, Mark Stocks, told

a recent meeting that the waste and parks service was "literally the source of your equal pay claims, so you have to pay it more attention. Even if not for the equal pay liability, it

would have to change because it's not performing for the people of Birmingham. "This is a really high cost service and yet the level of, for example, missed bin collections is off

the chart in comparison to other councils. And so you need to do something. You have to transform it." He particularly said the council had to stand firm on deleting the WRCO role. The

full annual report into the council's accounts for 2021 to 2024 also declared there was 'serious mismanagement in the waste and street scene services (which) led to inappropriate

practices and alleged non-compliance by workers with their terms and conditions - resulting in significant equal pay claims from trade unions and commercial lawyers.' The WRCO role was

the 'fourth man' in a crew of four on each bin truck, with responsibilities for dealing with any 'live' issues that arise on the rounds, engaging with residents,

supporting efforts to reduce waste contamination and up recycling rates, and carrying out 'quality audits' of street cleanliness along a route, using hand held 'smart

phone-style' devices. The union Unite claim the role being removed is 'safety critical' and by axing it the remaining bin crew is at risk. The council deny this. They do

however admit that the restructure will mean the end of the 'fourth man' on the trucks, bringing Birmingham in line with many other local authorities who send out three man crews

to collect rubbish. WHAT DOES THE COUNCIL SAY? In a letter direct to bin workers, seen by BirminghamLive, council director overseeing waste services, Craig Cooper, implored them to consider

carefully their options when deciding whether to back further strikes while also warning of the consequences, especially to long service and pensions. He says the escalation 'will cause

greater disruption to residents, damage the reputation of the council, and impact on the pension contributions and record and holiday entitlements of those taking part in strike

action.' He confirms the council is relying in part on agency workers during the strikes but only at the same level as pre-strike, and denies claims of unlawful practices.

"Residents want and deserve a much better waste collection service, and the restructure that Unite is opposing is part of the much needed transformation of the service." He adds:

"Resolution of this dispute is in everyone's interests." A council spokesperson added: “Our door is always open to Unite and we would encourage them to come back to the table.

The further escalation of strike action is causing more misery to residents at even more cost to the taxpayer.” Insiders at the council also say there is confusion about what exactly Unite

are now asking for of the council. They say they believe a very fair offer is on the table to resolve the WRCO role deletion, and deny wrongdoing over the use of agency staff. Said one:

"They know that we cannot, and will not, reinstate the WRCO role and that a fair offer is on the table for affected workers. Unite's new ballot is now focussing on the role of

agency workers, while knowing our transformation plan is absolutely clear and committed on the need to reduce the use of agency staff." WHAT DOES THE UNION SAY? We understand

negotiations have broken down for now, with no apparent sign of a deal being struck that will avert action this coming week. The union has turned its focus onto the use of temporary and

agency workers in the service. They refer to a Freedom of Information request that appears to show that 40% of the council's waste collection workforce is made up of agency workers, not

the 20% regularly cited by the council. We understand the council is now investigating whether the numbers cited relate to total headcount rather than full time equivalents, claiming the

union is not comparing like with like to reach its 40% figure. Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Birmingham council has been wasting millions upon millions boosting agency

profits. That makes the pay attacks on its directly employed refuse workforce even more disgraceful. It would be cheaper and fairer to cut out the middleman, employ long serving agency staff

directly and halt the brutal wage cuts. "Instead, the council has decided to waste even more money by using Job&Talent (recruitment agency) to provide unlawful labour to undermine

the strikes. This is a collision course to failure - our members won't break and Unite is backing them all the way." Unite claim the input of commissioners into strike negotiations

has worsened the situation. Insiders at the council claim that's because commissioners won't be swayed by appeals to unionism or party loyalty. WHY ARE COUNCIL LEADERS DUCKING

QUESTIONS ABOUT THE BIN STRIKES? The ruling Labour administration's leadership team includes several high profile members of Unite the union. Leader John Cotton and the cabinet member

responsible for the waste service, Majid Mahmood, have both flexed their union credentials in recent years. Mahmood even quit his front bench role in 2019 in loyalty to Unite in a separate

legal struggle with the council. We understand that is why neither of them will front interviews about the bins strike. Residents will make of that what they will, but at such a critical

time for the city, leadership is desperately needed. Experienced unionist and Labour stalwart Gerard Coyne had also been providing advice to the political team on industrial relations until

recently, but has stepped back because of the conflict of interest with his role in Unite. We recently put a series of questions to Councillor Mahmood, including quizzing him about an

apparent historic failure to act on evidence that bin workers were openly engaging in task and finish work, despite the equal pay claim risk, and asking him if his loyalty to the union

trumped his loyalty to the council. Article continues below He refused to address the questions posed, instead stating: "I know that we need to improve the service to ensure that

residents get the best in class service they deserve."