Birmingham City Council accused of 'betrayal' after slashing refuse worker pay by thousands: 'This is TREACHERY!'

Speaking to GB News, Unite Union Lead Officer Onay Kasab hit out at Birmingham Council over the decision and made clear that the workers will "not stand for" the cuts to their pay.

Expressing the fury felt by workers, Kasab told People's Channel reporter Jack Carson: "The council is simply not listening. We have got a council making £300million worth of cuts, saying that is necessary - we are saying it is not.

"At the same time they are doing that, councillors have increased their own allowances by 5.7 per cent. They now get more in allowances than some of our members get for working for a week.

"Councillors are on the gravy train giving themselves a pay rise and expect our members to pay for it. It is not going to happen. That is why our members are so angry today."

Highlighting the council's decision to cut the Waste and Recycling Officer role, Kasab noted that it is a "safety critical" role for the refuse workers, and getting rid of it means the council "does not care about the safety of refuse workers".

Kasab added: "It is a safety critical role, it's in the job description. We've had occasions where our members have got caught up in the machinery at the back of the vehicle, and it needs somebody to push the button to be able to turn the vehicle off.

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"And for the council to cut it, means that they don't care about the safety of our members. It's time for Birmingham Council to actually stand up.

"Instead of making cuts, they need to demand from the Government the funding that they need to be able to provide services and jobs for the people of Birmingham. It's time to make different political choices."

Kasab added: "Our members are not going to stand by whilst the council cuts their pay by £8000 a year.

"Before today’s protest, I had a letter from the council saying if we’re going to demonstrate today, they don’t want any noise – but if they’re going to cut our members’ pay we’re going to make noise every single day."

Stressing that the workers and the union will "continue to fight" for a U-turn on the cuts, Kasab said they want a "fair settlement".

He stated: "We want a fair funding settlement for Government. That means standing up and fighting. Our members are doing it, it's about time councillors did it as well."

When pressed by Jack on the council's claims that they are providing support for the refuse workers, Kasab hit back: "It's crocodile tears. It's a strange kind of support that says, 'I'm going to take a pay rise, but I'm going to hit you for £8,000'.

"That's not support, that is treachery. That is betrayal of council workers."

In a statement, Birmingham City Council said they are "continuing to work through this dispute and the resolution procedure", and they're "hoping that they can minimise any disruption through these protests".

Earlier this month, Unite announced strike action would triple from four days a month to 12, increasing to 13 in March.

At the protest, union members shouted: "They say cut back, we say fight back."

The council say several options have been put forward to workers including: redeployment, driver training and voluntary redundancy. According to the local authority, 130 of the 170 of the affected employees have already chosen one of these options.

A council spokesperson added: "Ensuring the safety of our employees and residents is taken extremely seriously, and health and safety is everyone's responsibility.

"We have undertaken steps to ensure Birmingham City Council colleagues affected by the change in working arrangements are supported."