Agency workers covering for Birmingham bin strikers to vote for their own strike action
Agency bin staff covering for striking workers to vote for industrial action
- Agency refuse workers in Birmingham, hired to cover for an ongoing strike, are to vote on taking their own industrial action.
- The potential strike by agency staff is due to claims of bullying, harassment, and unsustainable workloads within the council's refuse department.
- This new threat of action further complicates a long-running dispute, with hundreds of permanent Unite members having been on strike since March over pay and jobs.
- Unite general secretary Sharon Graham criticised Birmingham City Council's "mismanagement and vindictive behaviour" and called for a fair deal for all bin workers.
- Birmingham City Council denied allegations of blacklisting following an investigation and stated its contingency plan is working to maintain waste collections despite the industrial action.