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Birmingham City Council says it is on track to clear a backlog of uncollected waste by the weekend.
Craig Cooper, strategic director of city operations, said that despite the ongoing dispute with the Unite union, clearing the backlog would start tackling those “affected the most” by the bin strike.
In a standoff with the Labour-run council over plans to cut the role of waste recycling collection officer (WRCO), hundreds of bin workers began an all-out strike on 11 March, which has led to rubbish bags piling up on the streets.
Reports have emerged of “cat-sized rats” wreaking havoc on bin bags, which have been labelled the “Squeaky Blinders” by one Tory MP, with concerns growing that the overflowing waste will lead to a health emergency.
Mr Cooper said the amount of uncollected waste had peaked at 22,000 tonnes, but he expected to be back to “one household collection every week” for all residents by the weekend.
“We’re already back to collecting normal household waste this week,” Mr Cooper told the BBC. We are back into a position of good control.
“The priority now is street cleansing and making sure the fly-tipping is at a manageable level.”
There are currently 120 bin lorries completing the rounds every day, which is half of its total capacity, while garden waste and recycling will not be collected until the strike is over.
His comments come a day after Unite members voted by 97 per cent against the council’s offer of pay protection for a number of workers on 60 per cent turnout, with Unite saying the offer did not address potential pay cuts for 200 drivers and was “totally inadequate”.
Speaking outside the council offices on Tuesday, striking WRCO Wendy, who did not want to give her surname but has been in the role for five years, fears she could lose her house if her wages decrease.
She said she is not asking for more money but wants to keep her wages at the current level rather than see them cut.
She said: “I’m a single parent and I brought up three children. I also rent my property from Birmingham City Council, so if I lose £600, potentially I could lose my home.
“So the impact on it, everything’s going up, but our wages are just stopped there. They are raising everything, especially the council rents, but they want to lower your wages.”
Earlier on Tuesday, Mr Cooper said that the role of WRCO was “not fit for purpose” and urged striking workers to think again about the offer the local authority has put forward, which he says has included alternative job roles.
Speaking at the council’s offices in Victoria Square on Tuesday, Mr Cooper said: “My message to Unite is that we have put a very, very fair offer on the table.
“We know that there are 170 WRCOs, we know that 130 of them have already accepted alternatives, whether that’s progression to be drivers and training for that, whether that’s voluntary redundancy, or whether that’s moving to a role of an equal grade and another part of city operations.
“There are about 40 that haven’t, and I urge those 40 to look again at whether or not they want progression, to look again at whether or not they want to stay on the same pay grade and remain within city operations, because that’s a key part of the offer.
“Nobody needs to drop down, but the WRCO role is not a role that exists anymore. It’s not fit for purpose.”
English (US) ·