Deal to end bin strike agreed in principle
A deal to end the bin strike in Brighton and Hove has been agreed in principle today (Sunday 17 October).
The outline deal will need to ratified by bin lorry drivers belonging to the GMB and working from the council depot in Hollingdean.
A meeting is understood to have been called for first thing tomorrow (Monday 18 October).
It will also need to be signed off by Brighton and Hove City Council’s Policy and Resources Committee.
A special meeting is understood to be likely to take place on Tuesday.
The deal was reached today in talks that lasted six hours, with Green councillor Tom Druitt chairing the opening hour and returning before the end of the day.
One of those close to the talks said that this helped calm tensions after the council called in contractors to clear rubbish from bin stores under blocks of flats.
The dozens of drivers at Cityclean, the council’s rubbish and recycling service, had been due to return to work tomorrow anyway – for three days.
They were due to go back out on strike from Thursday (21 October), with the prospect of the walkout lasting until Sunday 21 November.
But optimism is growing that the GMB will issue a suspension notice if the outline deal is passed at the special Policy and Resources Committee meeting.
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And congratulations to B&H News for having had the most concise, clear and least confused coverage of this strike. Some other news media have been producing a totally opaque narrative.
Pleased to read this timeous update with the wry subtext. I can sleep peacefully now. No news on the adjoining news media even on the Council’s mini-Pravda. The breathless whittering on about intense talks ect reeked of something; the astonishing kow-towing to the GMB was particularly retch-making. But it did at least partly make in it clear that the “dispensation” was “a legally permitted ask” (? New technical term) by the Council to/from the GMB. Rather like indulgences in the Middle Ages, behaving badly is OK but pay the price from the protection racket ransom ect…(work in progress )
De recognise the GMB. Get a proper contractor in to do the job. How nice of Tom Drewett to pop back from high French home.