Binmen are getting £230 for a day's work to ensure Brighton and Hove's streets stay clean during the bank holiday week.

About 100 dustmen will be drafted in on the Saturday after the public holiday on Monday to catch up with missed rounds.

The one-off payments will cost taxpayers more than £20,000.

It is part of an overtime deal agreed with the powerful GMB union which costs Brighton and Hove City Council more than £180,000 a year.

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

Brighton and Hove environment spokesman Gill Mitchell said: "Everyone knows what an important job this is in the city and how unpleasant it can be.

"So they get what most people would regard as a good rate because residents expect a good job done.

"Since bringing the service in-house, we have made the service more efficient but we recognise that many jobs attract a premium payment for working weekends in both the public and private sector."

City nurses have to work bank holidays and earn a one-off payment and a day off in lieu.

A nurse working in Brighton and Hove earning £16,525 will receive about £40 extra.

Problems with the city's refuse service came to a climax in 2001 when workers occupied the Hollingdean depot in protest at the suspension of colleagues by the private contractor Sita.

The situation deteriorated and Sita eventually pulled out. The refuse service was taken back in-house by the council.

In summer 2001, we revealed some binmen were creaming off a £10-a-week bonus for agreeing to take their tea breaks on the road instead of the depot.

The city council inherited the tea break bonus when it took over control from Sita.

The breaks had cost the French-owned firm £2,600 a year and were axed soon after they were reported.

Wednesday August 20, 2003