Birmingham council faces over 400 legal claims from bin workers whose pay has been unfairly attacked, Unite, the UK’s leading union, said today.

The total liability for the claims would be several million pounds, higher than outlined in a deal agreed with the conciliation service Acas in May that the council reneged upon (see notes to editors for full breakdown on legal claims).

A deal between the council and Unite would involve an agreement to resolve the legal claims. This means the council is wasting millions by not settling – on top of the more than £33 million it has already wasted trying to break the strike.

If the strike is not resolved before May, whichever party wins control of the council after the election will have to pick up the bill.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Unite will use every tool available to defend and protect its members and that includes legal action.

“Unite’s message to Birmingham council is clear, it needs to return to negotiations and offer a fair deal to its workers. Every day this dispute continues is seeing the council’s costs climb ever further.

“This dispute will not end until there is justice for bin workers.”

Advice from Unite’s leading counsel, Oliver Segal KC, is clear: there is no “equal pay” liability from settling the strike; but there is a very significant exposure to liability from these legal claims if no deal is made.

The council disputes this. But it refuses to explain even the basics of its own legal advice. This suggests it knows its position is not credible.

ENDS

Notes to editors:

What are the legal claims from Unite members?

Unite members have several legal claims. The drivers (downgraded from grade 4 to 3) have claims including: unfair dismissal; making unlawful inducements (s.145B TULRCA); and failure to carry out collective consultation in line with statutory obligations (s.188 TULRCA, also called a “Protective Award” claim).

Ex-WRCO loaders (downgraded from grade 3 to 2) have claims for redundancy payments and for unfair dismissal. There are also new claims for anti-union blacklisting.

Unite’s legal advice comes from the country’s top employment law barristers. We have been transparent throughout on our legal case. In contrast, the council refuses to share any information on its arguments. This suggests it knows it has a very weak case.

How can this be “unfair dismissal” and “fire and rehire” when bin drivers accepted downgraded roles?
Senior council officers are saying “how can there be unfair dismissal, and fire and rehire, when no one was sacked”?

In a nutshell: after the council walked out of Acas talks it sent redundancy letters to workers, telling them their old jobs were being cut. They were told they could accept new positions on lower grades.
Most of these workers only had two real choices: agree to the new lower-paid roles or leave. The large majority of people signed up for the downgraded roles. But this was under duress.

There were no serious offers of alternative roles on the same grade. Jobs available were in areas like social services, which bin workers weren’t qualified for.

So effectively, our members were made redundant from their old roles and forced to accept re-hiring on lower pay. This is fire and rehire.

And the law is clear: When you cut someone’s job and send them a redundancy letter or substantially worsen the terms of their contract without proper agreement, that still counts as a “dismissal”. Even if you’re forced to stay with the employer in a lower-paid role. There is substantial case law on this – e.g., Hogg v Dover College and Alcan Extrusions.

Why does the council have “unlawful inducement” and “failure to consult” liabilities from its botched job evaluation?

These relate to how the council botched the process of forcing a lower grade on drivers.

The council claims the downgrades were part of a standard “job evaluation” process. But it failed to follow basic procedures for a job evaluation. It ignored the view of the external assessor and abandoned the moderation process before it was concluded. It then imposed the redundancies even though the process had not finished.

The council also failed to follow the law on how to consult with drivers, and on collective bargaining. Unite members thus have “extremely strong” claims for compensation under sections 145B and 188 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 (TULRCA).

For media enquires ONLY contact senior Unite communications officer Ryan Fletcher on 07849 090215 or 020 3371 2065.

Email: ryan.fletcher@unitetheunion.org

Unite is Britain and Ireland’s largest union with members working across all sectors of the economy. The general secretary is Sharon Graham.