Brakes put on Sandwell bin strike as MP leads protest outside council house
Sandwell's bin strike has been halted as an MP led a placard protest outside Sandwell Council House.
The dramatic move follows the four-week long industrial dispute between the borough's private waste contractor Serco and the GMB union which has resulted in complaints from furious residents over unemptied bins.
A group of frustrated residents joined the Conservative West Bromwich West MP Shaun Bailey in a demonstration at the steps of the Labour-run offices in Oldbury on Friday afternoon.
Shortly afterwards the council's environment chief Councillor Danny Millard announced: “Discussions between Serco and GMB have led to an agreement to postpone industrial action while discussions are ongoing.
“Our hope is that bin collections will return to normal as quickly as possible.”
Mr Bailey said: "We are fed up. This is the third strike since I've been MP. We are going to keep fighting. This is a ridiculous situation. It's an absolute joke. At the end of the day 125,000 people in Sandwell have been impacted."
Tipton resident Tom Blewitt, 29, of Richards Road, Princes End, said: "In my street we have been waiting for five weeks for our bins to be emptied. We have seen maggots and rats in our street.
"There are large families complaining of smelly bins."
The council said the bin crews were working hard to catch up on refuse collections and this work will continue on Saturday.
It that on Monday crews will be continuing to tackle the backlog of domestic waste and collecting garden waste bins and that all the rubbish, including black bags will be cleared as quickly as possible. Food waste collections will also resume on Monday.
"We will update you as soon as possible on when recycling collections can resume, but it is hoped this will be at some point next week.
If your grey bins have not been emptied, please leave them out and crews will be with you as soon as possible. We would again like to thank residents for their patience during this period of industrial action," the council said.
It added that the Shidas Lane rubbish tip in Oldbury was open from 7am-4pm daily.
