The long running Birmingham bins dispute has ended after Birmingham city council today (Friday 15 March) approved the detailed legal agreement that has ended the dispute.
The union claimed that the council made payments worth “several thousand pounds” to a group of refuse workers who did not take part in last year’s bin dispute.
The council said that no payments were made to employees who were represented by the GMB union in the refuse service for not going on strike during the industrial action last year.
As part of the agreement between the council and Unite all Unite members who were balloted for industrial action in 2017 will receive £3,500 and all workers who claimed they were “blacklisted” by having holiday request refused during the current dispute will receive £500.
The union also said the council is “ignoring” the High Court agreement which ended the 2017 strike, by sending refuse collection vehicles out “without sufficiently trained staff in place, endangering the safety of the workers and the general public”, it says.
Unite assistant general secretary Howard Beckett – “Unite has been consistent from the beginning of the dispute that our members were simply seeking parity, with the payments that workers who did not take part in the 2017 dispute, subsequently received. Once that principle was understood the dispute could be resolved.”
As part of the agreement, Unite’s high court case concerning the council’s alleged breach of the memorandum of understanding (MOU) which ended the 2017 dispute, will be “terminated,” and the council will “cease utilising mop up crews without a qualified waste reduction collections officer on board”, the union says.
Unite assistant general secretary Howard Beckett said: “Unite is pleased that it has been able to reach agreement with the council to finally bring an end to this lengthy dispute.
“By standing together our members have secured an excellent settlement and ended the injustice that they had been subject to. Their success demonstrates what can be achieved when workers are united.
“Unite has been consistent from the beginning of the dispute that our members were simply seeking parity, with the payments that workers who did not take part in the 2017 dispute, subsequently received. Once that principle was understood the dispute could be resolved.
Cllr Ian Ward, Leader of Birmingham City Council – “Everyone involved has always had the same aim – to deliver the best possible service for citizens, as clean streets have consistently been named as the number one priority for the people of Birmingham.”
“Unite is firmly committed to developing strong industrial relations with Birmingham council in the future and hopes that the recent industrial disputes can be put behind us.”
Additionally an independent review on the future options for delivery of the waste service will also be commissioned by the council as part of the joint commitment to providing the best standard of service possible for Birmingham’s citizens, businesses and visitors.
Cllr Ian Ward, Leader of Birmingham City Council, said: “Since the start of this dispute we’ve said that a negotiated settlement was what everyone needed.
“There’s been a determination this week on all sides to bring this dispute to an end and we now have a platform from which to collectively move forward.
“Everyone involved has always had the same aim – to deliver the best possible service for citizens, as clean streets have consistently been named as the number one priority for the people of Birmingham.
“We all know the service needs to be better than it has been. This settlement will enable us to lay the foundations for improvement.
“The independent review will take a long, hard look at the service and come forward with recommendations that help us collectively achieve this.”
Exact details of the independent review and its scope will be finalised in due course and the terms of reference will be considered at a Cabinet meeting on March 26.