Union must be 'real' on bins deal, says minister

MCMAHON HAMMERS HOME 'MULTI-MILLIONS' EQUAL PAY RISK FOR COUNCIL

- JANE HAYNES News Reporter

BIRMINGHAM'S 'fragile' recovery could be undone if bins union Unite refused to accept the council could not cave in to its demands without facing a new 'multi million pound' equal pay bill, a minister said.

Local government minister Jim McMahon urged Unite chiefs to be 'real' about how far the city council could go to settle the six-month dispute.

It could not meet Unite's demands for five-figure cash settlements for each affected bin worker on top of enhanced voluntary redundancy terms, alternative roles or upskilling without risking 'tens of millions' in additional payouts, he said.

As revealed by the Birmingham Mail, Unite rejected a council offer to give payouts of £7,000 to £10,000 apiece to affected drivers and specialist loaders as part of a mitigation deal to end the strike.

The union wanted twice as much.

The union and those pressing the council to settle needed 'a reality check, said McMahon.

He was responding to an urgent question tabled by Birmingham Perry Barr's Independent MP Ayoub Khan.

The issue secured parliamentary time as MPs prepared to go into recess for the summer.

The council had endured 'one of the largest equal pay crises in modern UK history' and could not strike a deal that would risk adding 'tens of millions more' in payments to female workers, Mr McMahon told the House of Commons.