00:00Refuse workers in Birmingham have voted to extend industrial action until at least September.
00:06That will add months to a dispute that has left recycling and household waste collections
00:11disrupted across the city.
00:13As a Birmingham resident myself who has experienced the fact that we're not getting recycling
00:18being taken away on the cardboard, glass, whatever, and that has to either go into the
00:24main bin.
00:25I filled my recycling, took it down to the tip a couple of times, but yeah, I've kind
00:30of settled into a routine.
00:31I think most people have, and the agency workers who are sort of coming regularly and taking
00:37the main refuge, including whatever else that goes in the bin, I think most people, it's
00:42kind of drifted off the agenda.
00:43It's not quite so much of an issue as it was this time last year when we were getting lots
00:48of stories about cats, or rats, I shouldn't say, the size of cats and larger.
00:54And the fact that there was a lot of sort of problems in inner cities where people didn't
00:57have access to cars to take it to the local recycling centre.
01:01But yeah, it's an issue undoubtedly, and I think there's going to be punishment of the
01:07Labour Party who are in control, they're probably going to lose a lot of seats.
01:12Probably not so much about the sort of the bin strikes, I think that's a sort of factor.
01:15There are many other issues, and particularly inner city wars, we won't see a lot of Gaza candidates
01:20or independent candidates being selected, but undoubtedly the sort of the continuing bin
01:25strike, which of course, and let's not forget John Cotton is a member of the very same union
01:30that represents the sort of the workers.
01:33Well, the industrial action began in early 2025, after Birmingham City Council announced
01:39plans to remove the waste recycling and collection officer role and rehire drivers and loaders
01:47on new contracts. Unite the union says that could cut pay by around £8,000 a year. The
01:53council disputes that figure and says most affected staff have accepted redeployment or voluntary
02:00redundancy. Agency workers also joined the walkouts amid claims of bullying and harassment.
02:07Talks between the union and council have repeatedly stalled, and the renewed mandate now runs past
02:14May's local elections into September.
02:17The Birmingham has now become synonymous with overspending, of course, it sort of declared
02:21bankruptcy a couple of years ago, and the fact that we've got this continuing dispute which
02:25can't be resolved, it's a problem for sort of the image of the city, and it needs to be
02:29sort of sorted out as soon as possible, but I'm not holding my breath as to when that will
02:33be. The council says it remains committed to transforming its waste service, including rolling out new collection
02:39arrangements from June, and continues to appeal to striking staff to return to work. As the strike
02:46continues, the impact on waste collections, local services and council finances remains under scrutiny,
02:52but with the mandate renewed into autumn, the dispute shows little sign of ending soon.
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