Bin collections ‘back to normal’ following strikes

WEEKLY bin collections are finally set to resume in Birmingham after more than three months of disruption since the strike action was first announced.

Birmingham City Council’s cabinet member for Clean Streets, Recycling and Environment, Cllr Lisa Trickett, confirmed that from this week, the city’s refuse and recycling collections would be back to normal and resume on a weekly basis.

In an email to fellow councillors she said: “I am pleased to be able to tell you that from Monday, we will be in a position to resume weekly collections.

“This has been helped by crews returning to work following the suspension of industrial action, which has enabled us to return to this position much more quickly than expected. I would like to thank the crews for their help in this matter.”

And in a message to residents, Cllr Trickett confirmed there would be a little leeway given over what items are placed in household waste and recycling bins – but she urged people to ‘return to good recycling habits’.

She said: “We also recognise that, due to the disruption, some residents may not have placed their recycling in the correct tamination.

“Therefore, we will be taking a pragmatic approach to how the bins are collected for the foreseeable future.”

Weekly bin collections stopped at the end of June when Unite balloted its members to take industrial action over proposed changes to the waste collection department which would have seen 113 refuse worker jobs axed as the council attempted to reorganise the service.

The strike was suspended on August 16 after what appeared a breakthrough in negotiations between the council led then by Cllr bins, leading to con- John Clancy, that deal fell Clancy his job.

Strike action resumed on September 1 as 106 workers were handed their redundancy notice but was suspended again on September 20 when Unite won an injunction blocking the proposed redundancies.

A full court hearing is due in November to decide whether the council has acted lawfully in attempting to make its staff redundant.

Cllr Ian Ward has now been appointed as leader of the Labour party and leader of the council and is tasked with finding a long term solution to the binmen dispute. Unite and ACAS. through, costing But Cllr