Birmingham council leader hits back at bins union tactics after pub encounter

Birmingham's council leader John Cotton has today defended his role in bin strike negotiations and hit back at union tactics after an encounter in a city pub. Councillor Cotton, Labour,

who represents Glebe Farm and Tile Cross, was at the bar of the Post Office Vaults in New Street when he was approached by a supporter of striking binmen, who accused him of being

'missing in action' in negotiations to end the dispute. The encounter, filmed and shared online, above, featured a big green plastic hand that was waved in the councillor's

direction. READ MORE: BIRMINGHAM BIN STRIKE DEAL OFFER RAISES HOPES - WHAT HAPPENS NOW The supporter tells him there is a Unite campaign under way against him because he was

'missing' from negotiations, telling him 'the finger is pointing at you'. While the brief filmed encounter was good natured, Cllr Cotton said he believed it was driven by

'misinformation' about dispute negotiations and part of a personal campaign which had also seen his home door-stepped. He said family and neighbours had faced questions about his

actions, with posters and leaflets distributed in his local neighbourhood - tactics that he described as 'unnecessary'. The all out citywide strike has now been running for 12

weeks, causing chaos to residents and damaging the city's reputation at home and abroad, with tales of giant rats and rubbish mountains making headlines. Bin workers say they are

defending their jobs and pay, with pay cuts involved of up to £8,000 a year for some. As well as the pub encounter, bin workers and their supporters have also lobbied councillors outside the

Council House and turned up to protest at the offices of recruitment agencies that supply agency staff to the council's waste service. Speaking to BirminghamLive earlier today,

following a council Cabinet meeting, Cllr Cotton said he was hopeful that an updated 'fair and reasonable' offer to striking bin workers would finally lead to a resolution. READ

MORE: UNITE BOSS URGES BIRMINGHAM COUNCIL LEADER TO HONOUR OFFER OR QUIT AHEAD OF CRUNCH BIN STRIKE TALKS "We have put a good offer on the table. I hope that Unite will accept that

offer. It's in everyone's interest that this now comes to an end." Negotiations between Unite and the council are continuing. Unite General Secretary Sharon Graham has

personally called out Cllr Cotton for not attending negotiation meetings to resolve the dispute, claiming decisions are being left to officials and government-appointed commissioners. She

has also accused the council of being 'incompetent' and of 'villifying bin workers'. Councillor Cotton's face has also been plastered on billboards and social media,

and he has been on the receiving end of a postcards campaign urging him to 'stop attacking your workers'. READ MORE: BIRMINGHAM CITY COUNCIL ACCUSED OF 'VILIFYING'

STRIKING BIN WORKERS AHEAD OF 'NEW PAY OFFER' Cllr Cotton said today: "I think there's a fundamental misunderstanding of how this process works. "As the leader,

together with my Cabinet, I'm responsible for setting the policy and strategy of this organisation and setting out what the red lines are when it comes to any negotiated settlement.

"We absolutely want to find a negotiated settlement to this. There are red lines that we cannot cross that we have set up around equal pay and around the financial sustainability of the

council. We put two years hard work into fixing the foundations here, and we cannot put that at risk. "But there's also a proper process that takes place around industrial

negotiations, which is led by officers and the the managing director of the council. They're the professional officers who should be leading on those negotiations. "But any

decisions ultimately rest with with me as leader and my cabinet." 'POLITICS IS A ROUGH TRADE' Councillor Cotton said of the personalised tactics against him: "Politics is

a rough trade and people rightly have passionately held opinions and that kind of discourse happens and is accepted as part of the job. "What I do have some difficulty with is when

your personal space is targeted, when your home is targeted. "When I put myself up for election, I put my face on leaflets, but my family don't, and neither do my neighbours. There

absolutely needs to be discourse and people have the right to protest and the right to challenge but that has to be done appropriately." Asked for examples, he said there had been

sustained postering and leafleting taking place around his neighbourhood, and doorknocking at his home and nearby. "I am no shrinking violet. I take the robust political challenges, but

I think we all need to take a bit of a step back and reflect on the impact on others around us. "There is a broader issue here too, we saw last year in the city some pretty appalling

stuff happening during the mayoral and general elections, targeting individuals, and I think we've all got a collective responsibility to raise the tone of the debate. That doesn't

mean stamping down debate though." He said the council had an 'unfortunate history' when politicians have previously stepped into spaces they should not. Asked to clarify, he

confirmed he was talking about the catastrophic deal made privately between former Labour leader John Clancy and union bosses to end the 2017 bin strike, which resulted in a highly flawed

outcome that has since been cited in millions of pounds of equal pay claims. Said Cllr Cotton: "Clearly we are dealing with some of the consequences of that action now, and the changes

that we're seeking to make in the waste service and the wider equal pay challenge that we've been working hard to rectify have resulted." A report into the Clancy deal,

published in 2019, made damning reading. READ OUR COVERAGE HERE: DAMNING REPORT INTO BIRMINGHAM BIN STRIKE TRIGGERS CALLS FOR CRIMINAL INQUIRY He added: "We are making sure that

we've got the governance process right, that we're following the proper procedures for dealing with an industrial dispute, including how we engage with ACAS and how as leader I am

involved in the wider decision making. "It is absolutely right I and the cabinet members are not in the room. As politicians we have priorities, we have views, but we also take advice

from officers and then listen to that advice. We can see circumstances in local government where that hasn't happened and some of the consequences for authorities have been quite

serious. "But I am clear, I set the red lines, I set the policy, I set the strategy and I ask officers then to engage appropriately in those negotiations. "That is the norm (in

negotiating with unions) - officers lead on negotiations, but ultimately the leader and cabinet...have oversight ultimately of the finances of the council and have fiduciary duties."

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BirminghamLive stories here. He added that there are always 'political level' conversations that happen between politicians and trade unions but the line between those

conversations and corporate conversations 'cannot be blurred or crossed, because otherwise it creates difficulties, which I'm not prepared to allow.' Asked if the personalised

attacks on him have made him reconsider his membership of Unite, he said it had not. "I've been a member of Unite, from when it was the T&G, and I think members of any

organisation don't necessarily agree with everything that they do. But my view remains that I've been a trade unionist throughout my working life, I continue to be a member of that

union. "While I might hold my own opinions around some of the tactics and behaviour that have played out in this strike I remain a proud trade unionist."