Union bosses warn Birmingham bin strikes could continue until CHRISTMAS

Officials from Unite are balloting binmen over whether to continue industrial action after the current daily walkouts end on September 21.

But the city's waste chief has accused the strikers of 'holding the city to ransom'.

Huge piles of rubbish have been building up on the city's streets with strikes now into their sixth week over a dispute about changes to workers' terms and conditions with Birmingham City Council.

Unite assistant general secretary Howard Beckett said: “We continue to hold talks with the council, but progress has been slow and we would call on the council to now step up and conclude this urgently.

“In the absence of a settlement, we will be balloting our members from August 17 on whether they wish to take strike action and/or industrial action short of a strike after the current industrial action comes to an end in September. The ballot closes on August 31.

“The current round of industrial action is due to end on September 21 and a renewed industrial action mandate could see this dispute continuing up to Christmas.

WATCH: Bearded Broz clear up rubbish

“This is the last thing that the Birmingham public and our members want, so we again today call on the city council to move up a gear and negotiate constructively.

“This dispute began with Birmingham council having a list of demands. During the dispute one of our shop stewards has been suspended and disciplinary action has been accelerated against him."

Unite said that the local authority believes the dispute is over working patterns – but union bosses said the walkout was about safety on the bin lorries, threats to jobs and the potential loss of pay of up to £5,000-a-year.

Mr Beckett added: “I would also ask the Birmingham public to understand that strike action is a last resort for our members and places them in considerable financial hardship."

Councillor Lisa Trickett, cabinet member for clean streets, recycling and environment, said: “We are very disappointed by this latest development. Unite are effectively holding the city to ransom with this announcement.

“They have talked about red lines they wish to negotiate with us, but this threat of extended industrial action will not help the process of achieving a swift resolution so we can get on with delivering a modern, effective and efficient refuse collection service for the people of Birmingham.”

It comes after a group of Muslim men, Bearded Broz, who stepped in to clear up bags of rubbish were branded as 'scabs' in socialist newspaper the Morning Star.

The current pattern of strikes is three one-hour stoppages at 7am, 10.30am and 1.30pm.