Well starting Friday, Birmingham's Binmen and Street Cleaners will be working to rule, what that will mean to everyone, all of us resident throughout the city, heaven only knows.
Working to rule, in my experience carries an awful lot of pressure on the shoulders of management. Have they crossed all of the t's and dotted all of the i's, I doubt it very much. So watch out, if your refuse is supposed to be collected on Fridays.
Knowing a number of bin men as I do, there will be chaos, managers will eventually go home in despair, at the end of the day, whilst senior managers will spend all weekend working out a strategy to combat the work to rule and what to do come Monday, Strike day. I only hope they don't end up putting petrol on the fire, come Monday, using temporary workers (scab workers) will not lead to an early resolution, which is one strategy being explored and already underway.
Whenever an employer has attempted to break a strike using scab labour, industrial relations has taken years, many years to return to some form of normality, lets hope this isn't the path taken by the Council, otherwise CHAOS will prevail.
Having more than £80 a week taken out of you pay packet, is no small amount and this is the second time in around twelve months this has happened to this group.
Contrary to urban myth, binmen don't earn a fortune, it's good money, I'll admit, but loading tons of rubbish each and every day does take its toll, physically. I spent a day with a crew, working as a crew member and after a short while they begged me to get in the cab as I was slowing them down, I was so grateful to them as I was dying, trying to catch my breath and my back ached from all the lifting for weeks. Needless to say I never made a similar request again.
I sincerely hope that what happened in Leeds, where bin men ended up on strike for over three months, doesn't happen here, but I do wish them luck in their campaign, as no one should have to suffer like they are with major cuts in wages, coming up to Christmas.
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