00:00This is a council that has just voted itself a 5.7% increase for councillors, so the people
00:06who are telling us that this is financially necessary are happy to vote themselves a pay
00:12increase. It's not politically necessary, that's the point, this is about political
00:17choices.
00:18Birmingham City Council says cuts are unavoidable and waste services must be restructured to
00:23balance the budget. While council has approved an allowance increase, the council insists
00:28savings are needed across all departments.
00:32Workers have been willing to compromise, they've given away shift payments, they've been willing
00:37to do away with task and finish. That's an indication of how reasonable our members are.
00:43So for the council to now come back and talk about an £8,000 pay hit is complete and utter
00:50treachery. It's also unnecessary.
00:52The council argues scrapping the waste, recycling and collection officer role improves efficiency,
00:57but Unite says it unfairly targets frontline staff.
01:01On Sundays we've had vehicles, up to 20 vehicles, not able to get out on the rounds because
01:06they're simply not working. It was a high turnover of staff because they used a huge
01:10amount of agency staff. So the service is already on its knees even without strike action.
01:16So what they need to be doing is actually investing in the service, not taking money
01:21out of it by cutting our members' wages.
01:24With staff shortages and vehicle issues, the council says reforms will improve waste
01:28collection, but Unite warns further cuts will weaken services and cause more disruption.
01:35Council leaders need to start making different political choices, different decisions. Instead
01:40of wielding the axe on behalf of central government, how about standing up and fighting and defending
01:47the people who provide essential public services within the local authority? How about the
01:51councillors saying to central government, get rid of the commissioners, we'll run the
01:55council, give us the funding necessary in order to be able to do that?
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