In his first interview the city’s director of operations has accused union Unite of ‘not wanting to negotiate end to dispute’

Birmingham City Council has come out fighting over bin strikes, accusing union Unite of ‘holding the city to ransom’.

It’s a claim that was levelled back at the council by the union, and marks a dramatic and worrying escalation in the war of words between the two sides.

Craig Cooper, strategic director of operations at the council, and in charge of waste services, gave his first interview about the crisis this morning, and showed his frustration over the background to the all-out strike that now threatens to stretch into the summer.

READ MORE: Inside the full story of Birmingham’s bin strike as city faces ‘months of chaos’

He said: “What is being argued by Unite is interesting, but it’s not correct, and I ask them to really think about putting the residents at the heart of what you do.”

In a particularly biting comment he said: “We are looking for this to stop as quickly as possible but the trade unions don’t seem to want to negotiate and don’t seem to want to put in the very best service that the residents deserve. I feel that they are holding us and our residents to hostage.”

Speaking on BBC WM earlier, he added: “I understand the frustration of residents and we recognise we need to create a modern, sustainable and reliable service that has not acted effectively for a very long time. But we’re the second-worst recycling collection authority in the country. We want to move to national practice where we have a driver and two loaders, we’re replacing an ageing fleet, we are putting technology into the vehicles so we can properly monitor support staff.

“We have had a fair and reasonable consultation with 170 staff that we started last autumn. Around 130 accepted roles in other parts of the council at the same pay grade, some of them went for advancement including driver trianing. but around 41 of them don’t want to move to jobs on an equal pay grade or aren’t prepared for advancement.

“Any who wants to stay on the back of the truck can become a Grade 2 loader,” he added.

“We last spoke to the trade union last Thursday and we were keen to have a proper dialogue around how we transform the service, how we create a more reliable service for residents. And all they want to talk about is the grade three role (of the Waste and Recycling Officer), which isn’t a role available nationally.

“It is not, as the union says, a role that is critical to health and safety, that responsibility does not sit with one person.

“These services work up and down the country (with a three man crew, without a WRCO), they should be able to work for Birmingham.”

Mr Cooper said he ‘hoped’ the dispute did not drag on into the summer as ‘residents don’t deserve that’.

He said the city council had brought in key professionals who had delivered waste services around the country to advise on its transformation and shape a service. “Unite needs to get with us and back to the table, come and have a proper dialogue with us and move on.

“This city is doing its very best – we want a waste service they and employees can be proud of. Recyling collection rates of just over 20 per cent, to have missed bins at the highest rate in the country, and focussing on a WRCO role that is no longer there does not move the city on.”

POLL: Do you support the strike action by bin workers?

He claimed bin workers who were not striking had been disrupted from getting out of the depots, requiring a police presence.

“I’m really grateful to West Midlands Police for the work that they’ve done to allow our staff to go about their business normally, which they’re entitled to do. But our aim is to collect as much rubbish as we possibly can.

“We have 90 crews that are out – we normally have 200 crews. We do have some service, and we have a dedicated workforce that continues to operate as best we possibly can.”

We were told the city’s political leaders were not available for interview.