Acas, a conciliation service, has hosted a meeting between Birmingham City Council and Unite, a union boss, to discuss the regrading of workers at the heart of the Birmingham bin strike.
The focus of the row is now on plans to downgrade the role of drivers, which the union says could cost some workers £8,000 a year. Birmingham City Council said its job evaluation process was “fair and transparent”.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said that the regrading of workers should be called out as “fire and rehire” as it could lead to a reduction in pay for workers.
She called on the leader of the Labour-run council, John Cotton, to take part in the negotiations or to resign if he could not guarantee no pay cuts for workers.
Council sources have told the BBC that the regrading of drivers was “indicative” rather than final, while mitigating measures such as pay protections were being considered.
Cotton added there were “red lines” the authority could not cross around equal pay and urged the union to continue talks.
