Council leader says bin strike deal is "very close"

The leader of Birmingham City Council says a deal to end the city's long-running bin strike is "very close", after 21 months of industrial action.

Councillor Roger Harmer, the Liberal Democrat leader of the authority, gave the update when the Local Democracy Reporting Service asked what had happened to a deal he had said could be agreed around late September or early October.

"The council is very close to reaching a resolution of the waste dispute," he said. "The new political leadership has worked constructively with Unite over recent months and the council is awaiting final advice from its external auditors prior to taking a final decision."

How a deal would be agreed

Speaking to the BBC in September, Cllr Harmer set out the steps any agreement still has to pass. A deal has to be arranged, then go through various checks. It then goes to the council's cabinet, and Unite has to win the approval of its members before the dispute is settled.

He said cabinet would be presented with "a series of options", each with its own pros and cons, and that every option would be assessed by council officers and by the district auditor, so that "whatever solution we finally go for is sustainable and does not cause further ongoing issues for this council".

He has said negotiations are very complex and that "extra time" was needed to make sure a proper resolution was reached.

Equal pay worries

At last month's full council meeting, the Conservative group leader, Cllr Robert Alden, argued that the deals used to end earlier bin strikes had led to further instability, and pointed out that no details of the possible agreement had been made public.

He asked the leader to commit that any deal agreed by cabinet "will not risk new equal pay or sex discrimination liabilities for this council and the taxpayers of our city".

Cllr Harmer replied that he shared the frustration of residents at how long the strike had taken to resolve, but that there were risks with any solution. He said the council would follow closely the advice of its section 151 officer, its most senior finance officer, and of the district auditor.

Why equal pay matters here

Equal pay has shaped the city's finances for more than a decade. Claims that jobs mostly done by women were paid less than comparable jobs mostly done by men led to a large liability, and in September 2023 the council issued a section 114 notice, effectively declaring that it could not balance its books. That is why any change to the pay of refuse workers is examined so closely before it is agreed.

What the dispute is about

The dispute between the council and Unite began over the loss of the Waste Recycling and Collection Officer role. The previous Labour administration said a fair offer had been made to the striking workers, who said they faced a pay cut of £8,000 a year.

The strike has run for almost two years, and at its height left piles of rubbish on streets across the city. The minority coalition now running the council, made up of Liberal Democrats, the Green Party and independent councillors, promised to resolve it and to "clean up" the city when it took control in June.

What it means for residents

Collections have continued during the dispute, run by agency staff and workers not taking part in the action, but residents in many areas have reported missed and delayed collections. Anyone whose bin has been missed can report it on the council's website.