Brighton and Hove’s binmen have put their strike on hold on its second day – but it’s unclear how long it will take to clear the rubbish now strewn over the city’s streets.
The strikers suspended their industrial action for 28 days after a meeting with Brighton and Hove City Council this morning.
The council has agreed to classify most of its CityClean workers as skilled, according to a report on the Argus website. This means that their pay need not now be cut by up to £8,000 a year to put them on the same rate as unskilled staff to compy with equality laws.
GMB union official Mark Turner said: “After only two days of all-out industrial action the streets of Brighton were piled high with rubbish and the council found itself under increasing pressure from residents to resolve the dispute.
“The support from the public has been phenomenal and clearly shows that the people of Brighton are on the side of GMB members in this dispute.”
Council leader Mary Mears asked for patience while crews dealt with the backlog of collections.
She said: “Although the strike has lasted only two days, it will take a short while for the council to catch up on any missed collections and we’d ask for residents’ patience during this brief period.
“We have a hard working and dedicated workforce, which we are proud of, and I’m confident they will get the job done as quickly as possible.”
She added: “While we can’t go into this offer, we can say that we have aimed to meet our legal and moral duty to pay employees fairly without passing on unnecessary costs to council taxpayers.”
