Call for Birmingham City Council leader to quit in bin strikes row

A union is calling for Birmingham’s council leader to quit over what they called the authority’s “abhorrent” and “shambolic” handling of the city’s bin strike.

Talks broke down on Wednesday with the council saying it was “walking away”, after conciliation service Acas had started mediating negotiations in May.

Leader John Cotton said the authority had “sought to be reasonable and flexible but we have reached the absolute limit of what we can offer”.

Unite’s national lead officer Onay Kasab said on Thursday: “The way his council under his leadership has mishandled this dispute and with yesterday’s appalling announcement, as a Labour councillor he really needs to be considering his position.”

In response, a spokesperson for the city council did not comment on calls for Cotton to consider his position but said they would be talking to staff and unions about their next steps.

The union walked out on strike after claiming 170 workers would face losing up to £8,000 a year due to the council’s decision to remove Waste Recycling and Collection Officer (WRCO) roles.

Mountains of rubbish have been seen across the city at points during the strikes, since bin collection workers walked out in January, with an all-out strike going on since March.

On Wednesday, Unite general secretary Sharon Graham repeated earlier claims that the council had resorted to a “fire and rehire” strategy.

Accusing the council of a “shambolic” mishandling of the dispute, including a “daft” attempt to negotiate via a statement to the media, Mr Kasab said on Thursday of Cotton: “I think he really has to seriously consider his position.”

The national lead officer also stated there had “not been numerous offers that the union has turned down”.

“The question to the council is how do redundancies and cuts to people’s pay improve services,” he added.

“That’s the question that John Cotton really has to answer now.”

The council leader said on Wednesday that the authority had “now run out of time”, after negotiating in good faith.

Cotton added “unfortunately Unite has rejected all offers so we must now press ahead to both address our equal pay risk and make much needed improvements to the waste service”.

The Labour-run council would communicate with staff and unions as to its next steps, with voluntary redundancy remaining on the table alongside opportunities for training and redeployment, the leader said.