Refuse agency workers hired to cover Birmingham’s long-running bin strike have voted to take industrial action themselves over claims of bullying and harassment.
Hundreds of Unite members in Birmingham have been on full strike since March in a dispute over pay and jobs.
Unite claimed that increasing numbers of agency staff were refusing to cross picket lines by striking bin workers due to “unsustainable workloads” and a culture of workplace bullying in the council’s waste department.
On Monday, agency staff voted to join official picketing starting December 1.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “This is a real escalation in the dispute with agency workers now joining the picket lines because of the appalling way they have been treated by Job and Talent and Birmingham City Council.”
Birmingham City Council previously denied the allegations and said it does not “condone any action that is contrary to legislation and good working practice”.
Members of the Unite union in the city began an all-out strike seven months ago and in September voted to extend their action until March.
