Birmingham bin workers accept deal

Birmingham refuse workers voted to end their six-month dispute with Birmingham City Council last week.

The dispute was sparked when management imposed wage cuts as high as £4,000.

At a mass meeting, union members in the Unite, GMB, Ucatt and Unison unions voted by 263 to 156 to accept the deal.The trade unions represented the deal as the best they could get and have described members as “conciliatory.” But only a few weeks ago workers voted to reject the same proposal by 95 percent.

But the union leadership was not prepared to implement a battle plan. Unions across Birmingham council are due to begin balloting members for action over cuts at the end of th month.