Responding to the news that residents face yet another bin strike under the Labour Administration of Birmingham City Council, Cllr Robert Alden (Con, Erdington), Leader of the Opposition and Birmingham Local Conservatives, said:
Just 48 hours after Labour Leader, Cllr John Cotton, hailed a ‘new era of productive and progressive industrial relations’, Birmingham residents are left facing the turning back of the clock as Unite the Union announced 3 months of strike action and work to rule that will bring even more chaos, rubbish and vermin to our streets. This is just the latest saga of a long-running dispute that dates back to the previous bin strikes in 2017-19 under this Labour Administration and shows yet again for all the promise of change, what you get with Labour is more of the same dysfunction and mismanagement.
Robert added
Coming on top of the Labour Administration’s previous 700 day plus bin dispute, their failure to get a grip with staff related issues has helped bring the Council to bankruptcy and now they have no plan for how to keep the streets clean. Only weeks ago saying there was no chance of a strike. Labour need to get a grip, fix the service and clean up the streets.
Cllr Ewan Mackey (Con, Sutton Roughley) commented
Given the Labour Council’s appalling track record on waste collections, with sky-high missed collection and rock-bottom recycling rates, it is tempting to say that residents may not notice that their bin crews are on strike when their bin is missed yet again. However, in reality we know from the previous strike what bad news this is for our city. Unless Labour can finally get a grip and resolve this once and for all, we are set for 12 weeks of waste pilling up on our streets and even more costs piled on to council tax-payers.
UPDATE
Unite West Midlands has announced intensified strike action in their ongoing internal dispute with the Labour Administration of Birmingham City Council, adding 12 new strike dates to planned industrial action. Bin workers in Birmingham will now strike on:
February: 4, 6, 7, 10, 12, 14, 17, 18, 20, 25, 26 and 27
March: 3, 4, 6, 10, 12, 14, 17, 18, 21, 25, 26, 28 and 31
April: 2 and 4
This is 61% of all refuse dates in the coming months will now face strike action.
In addition, the Council have now confirmed they will stop collecting recycling and any new orders for bulky waste collections.
At least 5 members of the Labour Cabinet are currently members of Unite the Union. Those who have declared membership of the union organising industrial action in the city are: Cllr John Cotton (Leader), Cllr Majid Mahmood (Transport and Environment), Cllr Robert Pocock (Transformation and HR), Cllr Mariam Khan (Health and Social Care), & Cllr Mick Brown (Children, Young People and Families).
Responding to the news that residents will face intensified bin strikes under the Labour Administration of Birmingham City Council, Cllr Robert Alden (Con, Erdington), Leader of the Opposition and Birmingham Local Conservatives, said:
Birmingham residents are already dealing with rubbish piling high in the streets, attracting rats and making the streets unsanitary – but the situation is now set to worsen with this intensification of strike action. We’ve said previously, that this is just the latest saga of a long-running dispute that dates back to the previous bin strikes in 2017-19 under this Labour Administration. Instead of finding a resolution to this internal dispute, Birmingham Labour has delivered more of the same dysfunction and mismanagement.
Robert added
Late last year the Council claimed there would not be strike action, then they claimed it wouldn't last long, now it is growing by the week. Labour’s failure to run the Council properly has led to a double whammy of higher taxes and fewer services. Added to their mismanagement of the bin service, they have left many of our streets full of rubbish. The City and it’s services aren’t safe in Labour’s hands.
Cllr Ewan Mackey (Con, Sutton Roughley) commented
It’s bad enough that the waste collection provided by the Council is patchy at best, but people are literally paying for a service that they’re not receiving now. Many residents understandably feel like there should be some compensation but what the Labour Administration is planning on giving them is tax hikes, fortnightly bin collections, and a rat tax. All of this is a political choice Birmingham Labour have made – we showed them in last year’s alternative budget that there was a better choice for residents – but Labour simply doesn’t care.
