Birmingham agency bin staff to strike over bullying

Throughout the year there have been times when uncollected rubbish has piled up, like in the Sparkhill area, in May

Agency refuse workers brought in to cover for Birmingham's long-running bin strike have voted to take industrial action themselves over claims of bullying and harassment.

Hundreds of members of Unite in Birmingham have been on all-out strike since March in a dispute over pay and jobs.

Now, Unite claims a growing number of agency staff are refusing to cross the picket lines of the striking workers because of "unsustainable workloads" and a "bullying" workplace culture at the council's refuse department.

Unite confirmed 18 out of 22 agency staff who are members had voted to join official picket lines, from 1 December. Birmingham City Council denied the union's claims about the department.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: "This is a real escalation in the dispute with agency workers now joining picket lines due to the terrible way they have been treated by Job and Talent and Birmingham council."

Birmingham City Council previously denied the allegations and said it did not "condone any actions which are contrary to legislation and good employment practice."

'Contingency plans'

In a statement on Monday, the council said "a small number of agency staff" were in a separate dispute with the Job and Talent agency and the authority planned to continue to move forward with its changes to services that were "long overdue".

"While we are disappointed the dispute has not been resolved as Unite has rejected all our offers, we are continuing to make regular waste collections and our contingency plan is working," the spokesman added.

"We have been collecting an average of approximately 1,330 tonnes of kerbside waste every day, more than we did prior to industrial action, and over the last six months we have collected over 100,000 tonnes of kerbside waste."

Unite union members in the city began a full walkout seven months ago, and in September voted to extend their action until March.

Last month, the union accused senior council managers of threatening to blacklist agency staff who refuse to cross the striking bin workers' picket line.

Footage was shared showing a manager from Job and Talent telling staff that council chiefs will ban them from jobs.

In a response to Monday's vote, the agency firm said it was disappointed the dispute had not been resolved.