Bins strike deal still not implemented

MORE than nine months after Birmingham council and union bosses struck a deal struck to end last year’s bin strike it has yet to be implemented.

The latest target date for the introduction of new roles and working practices such as the five-day week sailed past this week with no sign of a resolution.

Birmingham City Council and Unite Union bosses have been locked in talks over the detail of deal since the strike was ended in November 2017.

The deal involved the middle ranking ‘leading hand’ staff being assured they could keep their current salary grade if they accepted new roles and responsibilities for driving up recycling rates in the city. They had previously been threatened with redundancy.

It also involved the service moving to a five-day standard working week, rather than the same hours spread over four longer working days.

But they are still locked in negotiations over the detail of introducing that deal.

Council bosses at first hoped the new ways of working would be in place by April and then after failing to meet that deadline council leader Ian Ward said they would be in place by September 1.

Meanwhile, the bins service is over-spending its budget by £300,000 a month while operating under the old system. With both sides maintaining a silence, both on and off the record, as the talks continue there are still hopes that the final issues will be ironed out and the deal can be implemented later in the month.

However, one source, on the edge of the negotiations, says that there is little chance of a breakdown in relations. The source said: “They seem to be making progress. I would say the chance of any more strike action is 20 per cent. A few weeks ago it seemed nearer 50-50.”