Bin strike a fire and rehire situation, says union

The regrading of workers at the heart of the long-running Birmingham bin strike should be called out as "fire and rehire", a union boss says.

Further talks between the two sides are set to take place next week after a meeting hosted by conciliation service Acas on Thursday.

The focus of the row is now on plans to downgrade the role of drivers, which the union said could cost some workers £8,000 a year.

Birmingham City Council said its job evaluation process was "fair and transparent".

About 350 workers are now entering their eighth week of all-out strike action, which at one point saw 21,000 tonnes of rubbish piled on the city's streets.

The city council said it needed to regrade drivers to ensure it complied with equal pay laws.

The council, which declared effective bankruptcy in 2023, has paid out more than £1bn as a result of equal pay claims over the last two decades.

Speaking before negotiations began on Thursday, Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: "They have said to these workers that the job that you do, the pay that you get, you either do that job now for £8,000 less or go.

"In any other situation we would be calling this out as fire and rehire. Equal pay does not mean you cut the pay of workers. It's supposed to mean you push up the pay of women, if it's commensurate with the role that men are doing."

Fire and rehire is a process when employees are let go and then re-employed on new contracts under new terms and conditions.

Ms Graham also called on the leader of the Labour-run council, John Cotton, to take part in the negotiations or to resign if he could not guarantee no pay cuts for workers.

She said Cotton was the "decision-maker" and it was clear from the negotiations so far that "people in the room have not been able to make a decision".

"He said on the airwaves no one needs to lose any money," she added. "If that wasn't true, he should step down because that's what he said to the people of Birmingham.

"If there is a proposal where nobody loses any money, that will go to our members immediately."

Council sources have told the BBC that the regrading of drivers was "indicative" rather than final, while mitigating measures such as pay protections were being considered.

Mr Cotton added there were "red lines" the authority could not cross around equal pay and urged the union to continue talks.

"The detail of the negotiations is the clear responsibility of the professional officers of the council," he added.

"The managing director and director of HR are the appropriate people to be leading the negotiations.

"I encourage Unite to continue engaging constructively with them to agree a solution to this dispute."