00:00for months now bin bags have been piling up and patience has been thinning out the standoff
00:10between a Birmingham City Council and its refuse workers has dragged on since January with a full
00:16strike action in place since March and only now has the labor-led council admitted that yes some
00:22staff will take a financial hit council leader John Cotton confirmed that under proposed reforms a
00:27number of bin workers will lose money it's the first time he's publicly acknowledged that fallout
00:32after Unite the Union spent months warning about pay cuts of up to £8,000 a year the council insists
00:38it's nowhere near that scale claiming only 17 workers are affected and even then the loss is
00:43capped at six grand either way it's a drop in income for frontline staff already working one of the most
00:49visible unglamorous and necessary jobs in the city the dispute stems from a city-wide job evaluation
00:55scheme the council says it has to roll out fairly across all departments but for refuse collectors
01:00it feels like they're always first in line when cuts are dressed up as reform Cotton says a fair
01:06and reasonable deal is on the table and red lines are in place to avoid repeating past mistakes but
01:11workers clearly don't see it that way Unite claims the offer has been watered down and is refusing to
01:17budge in the meantime the council has used a court injunction to bring in more bin lorries clear the
01:23backlog and enforce a once-a-week collection across the city but the wider damage is done trust once
01:29again is in short supply with neither side backing down there's a risk this dispute becomes yet another
01:35chapter in Birmingham's long history of avoidable breakdowns between those at the top and the people
01:41doing the job
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