Brighton and Hove binmen call off strike

The GMB union has suspended the strike by binmen in Brighton and Hove after the council made an improved offer.

Mark Turner, the branch secretary, put the offer to members at 6pm today (Thursday 20 June) and called off industrial action at 7.30pm.

The move means that the strike planned for next week will not go ahead and that the CityClean binmen and street cleaners will not be working to rule tomorrow (Friday 21 June).

Mr Turner said: “We’ve been in negotiations again today with the council. The council came up with an offer. At 6pm we put that offer to our members.

“We will now be conducting a ballot over the next 28 days providing the council issues certain information about the offer to the staff on what it means to them on an individual basis.

“While all that is going on I can confirm we have formally suspended industrial action for the next 28 days.”

He said that the GMB and Brighton and Hove City Council would issue a joint statement tomorrow.

This is expected to spell out the detail of what has changed, with the council expected to write to staff within days.

Once the letters have gone a ballot is likely to take place over the following two weeks.

Councillor Warren Morgan, the Labour group leader, said: “I’d like to thank union and council officer negotiators for getting to a point where a revised offer from the council can be put to a staff vote.

“I hope that this will lead to an end of the strike which is what we, local residents and businesses want.

“If the recent unrest has shown one thing it is how heavily the city relies on these workers who do such a tough job.”