Bin workers in Birmingham are to stage fresh walkouts in an escalating row over pay, union Unite has said.
It follows three months of disruption to bin collection services in the city in 2017. The latest action will see the Unite’s 350 collectors walk out for two days a week from February 19.
Members of the union at Birmingham City Council have been refusing to do overtime and working to rule (doing the minimum required in their contract) since the end of December.
It comes after workers represented by Unite claim GMB union workers were paid £4,000 last autumn, after they did not take part in the long-running summer strikes.
The council has denied this.
Talks are being held between Birmingham City Council and Unite through arbitration service Acas.
Howard Beckett, Unite’s assistant general secretary, said: “This dispute is entirely of Birmingham Council’s making, following a decision to pay extra money to a small group of workers who did not take strike action.”
The council has already announced changes to its contingency plans because of the work to rule, including a temporary, fortnightly service.
A spokesman said payments to workers were as a result of a failure to consult during the negotiations that ended the 2017 dispute, adding: “They were not payments for working during the industrial action.”
The proposed strike dates are: 19 and 22 February, 27 and 28 February, 4 and 8 March, 12 and 13 March and 21 and 22 March.