{"id":279402,"date":"2025-04-11T07:38:06","date_gmt":"2025-04-11T07:38:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/11\/union-anger-after-rayner-urges-bin-workers-to-agree-deal\/"},"modified":"2025-04-11T07:38:06","modified_gmt":"2025-04-11T07:38:06","slug":"union-anger-after-rayner-urges-bin-workers-to-agree-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/11\/union-anger-after-rayner-urges-bin-workers-to-agree-deal\/","title":{"rendered":"Union anger after Rayner urges bin workers to agree deal"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Andy Giddings<\/span><\/p>\n

BBC News, West Midlands<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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A major incident was declared at the end of last month<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner has urged striking bin workers in Birmingham to accept a new deal to end the dispute – sparking an angry response from the head of the Unite union.<\/p>\n

Rayner said a “significantly improved” offer had been made and that the city council had “moved significantly to meet the demands of the workers so we can see an end to this dispute”.<\/p>\n

However, Unite General Secretary Sharon Graham said the deal represented “a partial deal on pay protection for a few” and that the striking bin workers were “in the driving seat around what they wish to accept”.<\/p>\n

All-out strikes in Birmingham began on 11 March and have seen piles of bin bags line many streets.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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At the end of last month, the council declared a major incident, citing an estimated 17,000 tonnes of rubbish across the city over the first four weeks of the strike.<\/p>\n

There have also been calls in the House of Commons to involve the Army in clearing up, amid reports of an increase in rats and concerns about public health.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Angela Rayner visited Birmingham on Thursday to see efforts to keep the city clean during the strike<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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The dispute<\/a> centres on the loss of a health and safety job role.<\/p>\n

Unite said it would affect about 150 staff and mean a cut of up to \u00a38,000 a year for some, and the loss of pay progression for hundreds of others.<\/p>\n

However, Birmingham City Council said the post did not exist at other authorities and it has disputed both the number of staff affected and the sum of money involved.<\/p>\n

Despite several rounds of negotiations, the two parties it seems cannot even agree on fundamental details.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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More on Birmingham bin strikes<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The government has largely backed the Labour-run local authority over Unite, which until last year’s general election campaign<\/a> was one of the party’s biggest donors.<\/p>\n

On a visit to a recycling centre in Birmingham on Thursday, Rayner urged workers to accept the latest deal on the table.<\/p>\n

She said she wanted to see “a fair resolution to this” and added: “I would urge Unite to suspend the action and accept the improved deal.<\/p>\n

“This dispute is causing misery and disruption to residents and the backlog must be dealt with quickly to address public health risks.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Sharon Graham said her members “were in the driving seat”<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Her direct appeal to the workers was met by an angry response from Graham.<\/p>\n

The Unite leader said: “Whilst it is helpful that the government finally realised after weeks that they have a role in this dispute, the constant attacks and briefings against these low paid bin workers is frankly a disgrace.”<\/p>\n

She said the new deal “still leaves these workers worrying about how they are going to pay their mortgages and rent payments in a few months’ time”. <\/p>\n

Ms Graham said members would be voting in another ballot, which would close at the end of Monday and that her union continued to back them “100%”.<\/p>\n

Rayner is not the only member of the Labour government to get involved.<\/p>\n

A day after last week’s visit by local government minister Jim McMahon officers changed their approach to policing a picket line at the Tyseley depot.<\/p>\n

Unite members had previously been effective at delaying bin lorries from being deployed, but from 4 April they were told their actions could amount to public order offences.<\/p>\n

Speaking on Thursday, McMahon said 120 wagons had completed their rounds on the day, compared with about 20 a week ago.<\/p>\n

Lichfield District Council is also helping to clear the rubbish piled on streets. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n


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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Andy Giddings BBC News, West Midlands EPA A major incident was declared at the end of last month Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner has urged striking bin workers in Birmingham to accept a new deal to end the dispute – sparking an angry response from the head of the Unite union. Rayner said a “significantly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":279403,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/bbcx\/grey-placeholder.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[603],"tags":[3748,6699,63947,2294,842,6953,37,2252],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279402"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279402"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279402\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":279404,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279402\/revisions\/279404"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/279403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}