Agency workers covering for Birmingham bin strikers to join picket lines

Agency workers hired to cover Birmingham bin strikers will join them on picket lines on Monday, a union has said.

A rally will be held by Unite The Union at Smithfield Depot on Pershore Street, Birmingham, on Monday morning to mark the first day of strike action by agency refuse workers.

Unite said the Job & Talent agency workers had voted in favour of strike action “over bullying, harassment and the threat of blacklisting at the council’s refuse department two weeks ago”.

The union said the number of agency workers who will join the strike action is “growing daily”.

Strikes by directly-employed bin workers, which have been running since January, could continue beyond May’s local elections.

The directly-employed bin workers voted in favour of extending their industrial action mandate earlier this month.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Birmingham council will only resolve this dispute when it stops the appalling treatment of its workforce.

“Agency workers have now joined with directly-employed staff to stand up against the massive injustices done to them.

“Instead of wasting millions more of council taxpayers’ money fighting a dispute it could settle justly for a fraction of the cost, the council needs to return to talks with Unite and put forward a fair deal for all bin workers.

“Strikes will not end until it does.”