GREEN councillors have expressed hope that a deal to end the bin dispute will offer a "positive way forward in industrial relations".

The Green-led administration for Brighton and Hove City Council said that long-term issues had been raised by workers at Cityclean during negotiations.

In a statement, they said: "We urge all councillors to work together to address this, as it's clear many issues stretch back over a number of years."

The deal improves pay and conditions for Cityclean drivers, as well as raises the wages of council staff on the lowest pay grades.

Green councillors said: "This is important particularly given the national context we find ourselves in.

"Wages have stagnated in this country for many years, with nothing done by national government to remedy this.

"We're committed to supporting council staff - yet with fewer and fewer resources provided to councils by central government and the impact of Brexit, job shortages and the pandemic, we're clear that proper national funding is urgently needed, to ensure councils can address the crisis hitting essential public services and workers."

The councillors said they were pleased that the resolution had been approved by both the council and the union.

The agreement means a planned five-week strike that was due to take place from Thursday has now been called off.

GMB regional organiser Gary Palmer said that the union has "delivered for working people" with the deal.

He said: "We are very proud of GMB members for standing up for themselves to win their own respect and fair treatment.

"They have also had amazing public support, despite the inconvenience the people of Brighton and Hove have had to put up with.

"We will also see all lowest paid council staff - predominantly women workers - across the city get a pay rise as a consequence of this GMB Cityclean campaign."

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