Rubbish is piling up on the streets of Brighton and Hove again after the latest dust-up between binmen and the council.

Council chiefs were locked in talks with union leaders last night after rubbish collectors refused to work a 'catch-up' day to make up for the bank holiday.

They claimed to have been spat and sworn at on their rounds after The Argus revealed last week they would be receiving a £230 bonus for the day's work.

Under the £230 plan the collection schedule was to have been put back a day.

But instead of collecting Monday's rubbish yesterday, the collectors stuck to their usual Tuesday pattern, leaving Monday's bin bags on the streets.

An urgent statement released by the city council yesterday morning advised residents to revert to their normal collection day.

A message on the Cityclean hotline stated: "Following a mass meeting of the workforce and union representatives, Cityclean management have been advised by the union that the refuse collection service is not undertaking make-up following the bank holiday as advertised.

"Managers are urgently seeking a meeting with the union to resolve this."

But the message came too late for Sandra Washer, of St Michael's Road, Portslade, one of many angered by the mix-up.

She said: "They usually come at 8am on a Monday. We were told to put our bins out yesterday but no one has been to pick them up.

"I'm not happy. We're paying £84 a month in council tax and for what?"

Steve Percy, from Brighton, said: "If they are in this dispute just because The Argus told the truth then this is a disgrace.

"Whether people agree with them getting £230 or not is nothing to do with things really, they should just get on with the job.

"In my street it is now worse than when Sita was in charge."

The controversial "catch-up" bonus is set to cost Brighton and Hove City Council about £184,000 this year because there are eight bank holidays.

The money is taken from the £7 million a year the council has to pay for the clearance of domestic refuse and recycling.

An industry spokesman said contractors working in the private sector would expect their staff to work bank holidays for a maximum of triple time. He said this would be "far less" than £230.

The city council took the refuse service back in-house in October 2001 when Sita handed the contract back to the local authority following years of unrest between Sita management and staff which resulted in strike action.

Talks between in-house service Cityclean and union representatives were continuing last night.

A council spokeswoman said the day for Monday's missed refuse collection would be confirmed once a settlement had been agreed with the union.

Today's collection will be as usual for a Wednesday.

Wednesday August 27, 2003