Talks to resume as Birmingham bin strike enters seventh week

Talks are set to continue on Wednesday to end a strike by Birmingham bin workers which has seen mountains of uncollected rubbish pile up on pavements and street corners.

Negotiations between the city council and the Unite union were due to resume from 12:30 BST.

The strike, now in its seventh week, led to a major incident being declared last month amid concerns for public health and the environment.

At the House of Commons on Tuesday, Jim McMahon, housing, communities and local government minister, renewed calls for Unite to call off the strike.

Responding to an urgent question from Conservative shadow minister Kevin Hollinrake, McMahon on Tuesday urged the union to accept a council offer.

"The industrial action is in no one's interest because the deal on the table is a good deal," he said.

"The government will continue to be on the side of the people of Birmingham and to support the council into creating a sustainable, a fair and a reliable waste service that its residents deserve."

Judith Whalley, who uses a mobility scooter, lives in Hockley, an area where residents do not have wheelie bins due to the layout of the houses.

In previous weeks, bags had been piled waist-high, she said, but asked what it was like in Hockley now, the resident stated "it's a lot better".

She told BBC Radio WM: "They've been taking our bags away and in fact there were two men.... on Sunday who were with small, not bin lorries, with small wagons with the metal sides.

"They were taking away the rubbish and sweeping up, clearing up extremely well."

Lorraine Boyce, from West Heath, said: "Yesterday I think I did see a definite improvement.

"I saw several trucks around. There were less piles of rubbish... But nevertheless we've still got weeks and weeks of recyling."

In a recent statement, Unite said a deal "would be much closer" if promises made by the council in interviews were put in writing.

John Cotton, leader of Birmingham City Council, previously said he was keen the two parties continued talking so they could bring the dispute to a close.

In the Commons, Hollinrake had asked whether the deputy prime minister and secretary of state for housing Angela Rayner would make a statement on the disruption to waste collection, and the use of the military in Birmingham.

He also accused her of "failing to stand up to the unions [and] failing to protect residents of the UK's second city".

Under the military provision, a small number of office-based Army planners are to provide logistical support to the council.

"To be clear, the military are not needed on the streets of Birmingham, the council have it in hand," McMahon said.

He told the House he didn't think anyone took pride in the strike action and it was "not acceptable" that a major incident had to be called.

He urged both parties to "negotiate in good faith".

"The government is not the employer of the workforce in Birmingham, the council is the employer.... and it's for the employer and the employees to reach an agreement that both can accept," he added.

He also said the government strongly encouraged Unite to suspend strike action during negotiations.

Wendy Morton, Conservative MP for the Walsall seat of Aldridge-Brownhills, asked the minister what the government and Labour-run Birmingham City Council were doing to bring an end to the strike.

"The rats, the squeaky blinders, do continue to roam freely in the streets of Britain's second city," she said.

"Enough is enough, residents want to see an end to this."