THE Birmingham bin strike escalated yesterday as Unite general secretary Sharon Graham accused the council of a “new low” for firing three agency workers after they spoke to picketing colleagues.

The union said that the three temporary workers were laughably told they were being dismissed “due to a lack of work” after they briefly spoke to striking colleagues on the picket line, before undertaking their collection rounds. 

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “This is a new low by council bosses — firing workers they know have no protection for merely speaking to striking colleagues.

“The arrogance and vindictiveness of Birmingham’s commissioner-led council towards low-paid, hard-working refuse workers is astounding.

“Nearly 400 workers are out on strike, but the council thinks people will believe that just a handful are impacted by its pay attacks.

“But we know what the plan is: get rid of directly employed refuse staff and give the agencies free rein so workers can be discarded at will and paid next to nothing.”

A union spokesman added: “Unite believes that the council’s attacks on pay and offers of voluntary redundancy are part of a plan to replace directly employed refuse staff with a more expensive but much more insecure agency workforce.

“This is the most logical explanation for the council’s behaviour given that the council would save money, be able to directly employ long-term temporary staff and halt the brutal pay cuts if it stopped using employment agencies.”

Birmingham City Council confirmed that three agency employees were dismissed, but said it is “simply not true to say they were dismissed for talking to colleagues or ‘lack of work’… there was a continual pattern of them failing to follow clear instructions.”

The indefinite all-out strike began on March 11 after refuse collectors had been striking on and off since January over the removal of a higher pay grade for about 150 refuse workers who are responsible for health and safety during bin collections.

Unite says those workers affected would lose an average of £8,000 a year, which the council disputes, and that the Waste Recycling and Collection Officer role is “safety-critical for an often dirty and dangerous job.”

Unite’s national lead officer Onay Kasab has called for clarity over the numbers of people affected and the amount of money they stand to lose.

He refutes council claims that making pay concessions to the largely male bin-collecting workforce could lead to further equal pay claims for women.