STRIKE action by refuse collectors will continue tomorrow, the council has admitted.

Industrial action by the GMB union began across Brighton and Hove today amid a continuing dispute with Brighton and Hove City Council over pay and working conditions.

Should a resolution not be found, the bin strike in the city could last for a fortnight.

However, council leaders remain hopeful that the dispute can be resolved and a prolonged period of industrial action avoided.

A council spokeswoman said: “Yesterday evening (October 4), we submitted a set of proposals for GMB to consider, which sought to resolve the dispute today.

“GMB have now requested that the proposals are made as a formal offer and we are happy to fulfil this.

“We understand that strike action will take place tomorrow, but we are still hopeful that we can resolve the dispute.”

Earlier today, Labour councillors claimed to have made a ‘crucial intervention’ in the bin dispute, after the party claimed GMB offered to meet the council tomorrow morning to seek a resolution as a “direct result” of their discussions with the union.

Co-leader of the Labour group John Allcock said: “I’m pleased our interventions today have paved the way for constructive talks and hopefully an end to strike action.

“Burying heads in the sand helps nobody. We need the council to tackle the crisis directly and the next step in doing that involves attending the meeting with GMB that we have facilitated.”

GMB branch secretary Mark Turner said that the union had yet to receive anything from the council to bring the dispute to a close.

“If the council wants to put a formal proposal for us to consider, then we will consider it and we would meet them if it was necessary,” he said.

The union has claimed that enforced driver removals, alterations in crew duties and changes in the collection of dropped work have had a detrimental impact on driver’s health and well-being.

100 per cent of GMB members who voted in a ballot last month voted in favour of industrial action.

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