Birmingham declares major incident over bin strike

A major incident has been declared by Birmingham City Council over the ongoing bin strike, which has left 17,000 tonnes of waste on the streets.

Council leader John Cotton said the action had been taken in response to rising concerns about public health as the authority struggles to clear the rubbish, which has led to the issue being raised in Parliament.

The declaration means the authority can increase its street cleaning operation and fly-tipping removal, with an extra 35 vehicles and crews around the city.

Members of Unite have been on all-out strike since 11 March in a row over pay, which the union says will leave some workers £8,000 worse off.

As the strike was being raised in the House of Commons, the government confirmed it was now "monitoring the situation closely".

Mr Cotton said a lot of the difficulty in clearing the waste in the streets had been caused by staff on picket lines who, he said, were preventing vehicles from getting out of depot.

It was "regrettable" the council had to take this step, Mr Cotton said.

"[But] we cannot tolerate a situation that is causing harm and distress to communities across Birmingham," he said.

"I respect the right to strike and protest, however actions on the picket line must be lawful and sadly the behaviour of some now means we are seeing a significant impact on residents and the city's environment.

"Unless we declare a major incident and deploy the waste service's contingency plan, then we would be unable to clear the backlog of waste on the streets or improve the frequency of collections."

Declaring the major incident also allows the council to "work with partners to better manage the risks the city is facing", which could include increased sharing of data.

Further support from neighbouring councils and the government could also be explored, the authority said.

Speaking in the House of Commons, local government minister Jim McMahon said "well-established arrangements" were in place and the situation was being monitored closely.

"If local leaders on the ground in Birmingham feel that tackling these issues goes beyond the resources available to them and they request national support, then of course we stand ready to respond to any such request," he said.

"This government will always back local leaders and give them the support that they need - not swoop in to criticise or take over from Whitehall. This government will not hesitate to give support in any way that Birmingham leaders need."

Negotiations between the council and Unite were held on Thursday but broke down, with the authority saying all offers on the table had been rejected.

In response, the council said it had launched a period of collective consultation regarding compulsory redundancies.

Onay Kasab, Unite's national lead officer, previously said the union remained determined to find a resolution with the authority and would continue negotiations, which had resumed earlier.

"The fact that they've threatened those redundancies, for me, it can send one message - that they are not serious about resolving this dispute, but we are," he said.

"That's why, despite that, we'll still turn up [for talks]."