BINMEN have begun their planned strike after last-minute talks with the council fell through.

A ballot by the GMB union showed that 100 per cent of the members who voted were in favour of the walk out in Brighton, which began on the morning of Tuesday, October 5.

As a result, Brighton’s Cityclean, recycling, commercial waste and HGV drivers will be on strike for two-weeks.

The strike was triggered by a dispute over pay and working conditions.

GMB are calling on Brighton and Hove City Council to settle an ongoing dispute around unilateral imposed daily changes and removal of drivers from long standing rounds.

On Monday, Brighton and Hove City Council met those behind the walk out, but a council spokeswoman confirmed that strike action by refuse collectors would still take place.

The union says the leader and chief executive of the council must “stop burying their heads in the sand and take notice of the seriousness of the dispute”.

The strike commencing today will be the first of a number of strike dates.

Branch secretary Mark Turner said: “I am sure the council will want people to believe that this is just the GMB union and its members causing disruption once again, but the truth is that this avoidable dispute is completely as of a result of the councils own making.

“They have been told time and time again about the service issues and detriment to our members health and well-being resulting around tinkering with well-established rounds and moving of HGV drivers outside of their own council formal procedures, yet they ignored our members and workplace reps’ complaints allowing it to go on anyway.”

Gary Palmer, GMB regional organiser, said the council has had “plenty of time” to resolve the issue.

“Recently I spoke with one of our GMB members who hit the nail on the head when he told me, ‘I doubt they will listen to us seriously until we stand out on the picket line at the gates to the Hollingdean depot, they never do’,” he said.

The council, who were given a two-week grace period before the strikes, previously stated its “continuous commitment” to work with the trade unions and staff to resolve the dispute and “provide a good service to residents”.

A council spokesman said Covid-19 had a “detrimental impact on the health of Cityclean staff”.

“The country also now faces a national shortage of HGV drivers due mainly to EU HGV drivers no longer being able to obtain visas to work in the UK,” he said.

“Combined, we know these factors have created pressure within the Cityclean service and we thank all Cityclean staff who have continued to work incredibly hard in these challenging and unprecedented times.”

The spokesman said to provide the best service for the city, there has been occasions where “it’s felt appropriate to make crew changes or move a member of staff from one round or crew to another”.

“We believe these requests are made openly and fairly and any concerns about round changes are quickly responded to by managers,” he said.

“We take the concerns of staff seriously, which has seen officers make a number of recent commitments and offers to GMB and drivers for them to consider.”