Bin men strike

Sir_Artois

Thanks to all for replies. I've signed Cisco001 's petition and agree that some noise is made.

I have a young family and fill the bin and recycling most weeks and i dont feel having to take my own time and money out to take stuff to the tip is right or proper, when i pay for it via council tax.

To davesnave, dont be such a smarmy weasel. it's neither funny nor conducive.

Bottom line is, theres mountains of rubbish everywhere, its extremely unsanitary, especially as animals are ripping the bags open and the contents are all over the streets. Where are we - a third world country?!

anybody know what is the actual cause of this? obviously the binmen are striking, but is it money or holidays etc?

Davesnave

Sir_Artois wrote: »

To davesnave, dont be such a smarmy weasel. it's neither funny nor conducive.

My point was that making empty monetary threats in protest as a single individual would only cost you and the council's minions time and money, long after the whole sorry thing had been sorted.

Now you claim not to even know what the dispute is about. Words fail me.

Anyway, thanks for the compliment. I occasionally see weasels and I find them rather attractive little animals.

A.Penny.Saved

Sir_Artois wrote: »

Thanks to all for replies. I've signed Cisco001 's petition and agree that some noise is made.

I have a young family and fill the bin and recycling most weeks and i dont feel having to take my own time and money out to take stuff to the tip is right or proper, when i pay for it via council tax.

To davesnave, dont be such a smarmy weasel. it's neither funny nor conducive.

Bottom line is, theres mountains of rubbish everywhere, its extremely unsanitary, especially as animals are ripping the bags open and the contents are all over the streets. Where are we - a third world country?!

anybody know what is the actual cause of this? obviously the binmen are striking, but is it money or holidays etc?

The union is claiming that the council are cutting over 120 supervisor jobs, the BBC say 133 and the council say that the workers are being offered other jobs on a similar pay grade. The council wants to change the days/hours worked too from a 9 hour 4 day week to a 7 hour 5 day week. The waste collection people are striking for 3 hours/day, 2 at the start of the day and 1 hour around lunch time. To make matters worse they are returning to the depot for their breaks involving travelling time. Therefore add travelling time to and from the depot for their 15 minutes break and lunch of 30 minutes therefore not much time left for collecting anything.

It's passed the time when the waste collection has finished for the day so if your rubbish has not been collected, then report it on the council website. Also try and remember all this when the council elections next run. The council has only very recently notified people that there was a dispute when the actual strikes began. However the waste collections have been affected since early this year and I am almost certain that we had problems at the end of last year. Things have got much worse since the strikes began.
https://www.birmingham.gov.uk/info/20009/waste_and_recycling/99/report_a_missed_bin_or_sack_collection

Cisco001

A.Penny.Saved wrote: »

The union is claiming that the council are cutting over 120 supervisor jobs, the BBC say 133 and the council say that the workers are being offered other jobs on a similar pay grade. The council wants to change the days/hours worked too from a 9 hour 4 day week to a 7 hour 5 day week. The waste collection people are striking for 3 hours/day, 2 at the start of the day and 1 hour around lunch time. To make matters worse they are returning to the depot for their breaks involving travelling time. Therefore add travelling time to and from the depot for their 15 minutes break and lunch of 30 minutes therefore not much time left for collecting anything.

It's passed the time when the waste collection has finished for the day so if your rubbish has not been collected, then report it on the council website. Also try and remember all this when the council elections next run. The council has only very recently notified people that there was a dispute when the actual strikes began. However the waste collections have been affected since early this year and I am almost certain that we had problems at the end of last year. Things have got much worse since the strikes began.
https://www.birmingham.gov.uk/info/20009/waste_and_recycling/99/report_a_missed_bin_or_sack_collection

The first version I heard is when there wasn't wheelie bins, there are 5 men in one team. My guess is there were 2 supervisor and 3 normal bin men. After introducing the wheelie bin, council cut it to team of 3, and strangely it left with 2 supervisors grade and 1 lower grade, which don't make sense to me...
That's why I believe council want to cut the supervisor.

Also, apart from changing from 4 days to 5 days, council is looking to stop paying overtime.
I agree 4 days to 5 days with shorter hour is a good move as this could potential save a breaks(?), but personally think it is unfair of not paying overtime if they work over their contract hours.

Another thing I heard few days ago was, there are job fair organised by council for other posts with the same grading as supervisor, but not many bin men turn up to check it up as they are on strike.

rosie383

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-40820017/birmingham-bin-strike-volunteers-clear-rubbish-from-streets

At least someone is doing something constructive.

Sir_Artois

Why would i need to know what its about to complain about hygiene issues and the potential (if not already) of rats, davesnave? really, what is the point of your comments. Why also would i not take some form of action, as the dispute has been going on for the best part of a year now (thanks to A.Penny.Saved) Like i said, your posts are neither funny nor conducive.

Thanks to the others for replies, while i do sympathise with the binmen, the strikes of 2 hrs on x amount of days seems to me like a 4 week block of no waste removal (at least on my road), followed by saturday a scrap mans van, taking the excess bin bags only.

I will definitely remember this come election time. Although i didnt vote labour anyway this gives me further reason not to!

Davesnave

Sir_Artois wrote: »

Why would i need to know what its about to complain about hygiene issues and the potential (if not already) of rats, davesnave? really, what is the point of your comments. Why also would i not take some form of action?

I don't think I asked you not to take action. I only questioned the effectiveness of the action you intended to take and poked a bit of fun at your rather pompous-sounding first post.

This is a public forum and you should expect all sorts of replies if you post on it, including those from awful, weasel-ish people like myself.

More Serious Edit:

The longer answer is that when something like this happens, the best response is not to tell someone else to do something, but to get out there in concert with others and make whatever difference one can. Adversity like this can even bring the community closer together.

I know a few streets in Brum which will definitely not have bags in the street, because they're the sort of places where people look out for each other on a regular basis. There will be old codgers like me with a big van who can sit in the queues for others, and there will be strapping chaps to heft the bags where they need to go There might even be a communal bonfire or two.

As in the news videos, there will be people supporting both sides in this dispute, but getting down and a bit dirty is still something all can do, because as you say, the rats won't discriminate.

moneyistooshorttomention

Personally - I'd be checking their website to see if I could find any service standards they had to abide by (don't know what the chances of that are - in an era where Council are trying to cut bin collections??:cool:).

But no harm in checking and, if you get lucky, that there are some service standards laid down there screen shot them fast (in case they disappear) and then see if you can claim compensation for them not adhering to them.

Even if that's a "no go" as a tactic - I wouldnt advise withholding Council Tax in protest. They'll have "stronger guns" than you to bring to bear on that one and you'd be at risk of being penalised for it by them.

Also personally - there's nothing to stop you leaving their rubbish for them to collect from communal bins I guess? - ie public wastepaper bins. As a single person I guess that should be within the realms of feasibility? Human nature being what it is - it will possibly (probably....) cause other people to copy you:cool:. If they do - then that's a nuisance from a personal pov - but turn it around and start taking photos of it for local Facebook page/newspapers.

Ganga

I remember the bin men strike in Scotland many years ago,Glasgow i think,in the end they called the army in to help shift the mountains of rubbish that piled up in the streets,you should have seen the rats that emerged when the rubbish was being moved.

kelpie35

I have no sympathy for the bin men. My sympathies go to the residents.

If there was a law that allows the council to sack the striking bin men/women, I would support it.

There are plenty people who would thank you for the chance to get a job so the striking people can just accept conditions and get on a do their job.