Agency staff employed on behalf of Birmingham City Council to vote on whether to join the long-running refuse workers strike.
Unite says the agency refuse workers are being balloted for strike action over claims of ‘bullying, harassment and the threat of blacklisting’.
The ballot comes after a video was leaked that appeared to show a member of staff for Birmingham City Council saying agency workers will be banned from permanent roles if they join strike action.
In the recording, the speaker says: ‘people that do decide to join the picket line, then the council have confirmed to us that they are not going to get a permanent job’.
The union has accused Birmingham City Council of ‘blacklisting’ agency workers who join industrial action and demanded an independent inquiry.
Birmingham City Council has not responded to multiple requests for comment from Circular Online.
Commenting on the vote, Unite general secretary, Sharon Graham, said: “Unite fully backs Job & Talent (agency) workers who are being treated appallingly by the agency and the council.”
“Government ministers and Birmingham councillors need to step in and ensure a fair deal for all Birmingham bin workers – which is the only way strikes will come to an end.”
The strike action ballot of Unite members at Job & Talent working on the Birmingham council bins contract closes on 11 November.
Unite says workloads for agency staff are unsustainable because there are no recycling or garden waste collections, meaning that all refuse is disposed of in a single bin, which is often ‘extremely heavy and overflowing’.
Unite the Union and Birmingham City Council have been in dispute since last summer, with strike action beginning in January 2025, over the council’s decision to remove Waste Recycling and Collection Officer (WRCO) roles.
In April, Birmingham City Council declared a major incident over the backlog of waste on the streets, with over 17,000 tonnes of waste being uncollected across Birmingham at one point.
Lichfield District Council assisted in clearing the backlog of waste, with the service delivered at a commercial rate and the cost met by Birmingham taxpayers.
The bin strikes in Birmingham could last until December after 97% of refuse workers voted in favour of continuing industrial action.