Following a revised offer from Brighton & Hove City Council, members of the GMB union in the City’s Cityclean service have voted to suspend the industrial action for a period of up to 21 days for further negotiation to take place.

This decision follows meetings between the Council and the Union over the last 24 hours which have brought the two sides closer to an agreement.

Mark Turner, GMB Branch Secretary, said:
“After only two days of all out industrial action the streets of Brighton were piled high with rubbish and the council found itself under increasing pressure from residents to resolve the dispute.

"Negotiations have moved in the right direction which meant we were in a position to be able to put the renewed offer to the members. Following news of the offer the members voted to suspend action for a period of up to 21 days as a gesture of goodwill for the negotiations to be finalised.”

Charles Harrity, GMB Organiser, said:
"The action which had its focus at Cityclean’s Hollingdean depot, was solid with hundreds of GMB members on the picket line. They were also been joined by local residents, members of sister trade unions such as the CWU, Unite, FBU and Unison who have made donations to the strike fund, and students from Sussex university who have brought refreshments for the striking workers.”

Rob Macey, GMB Organiser said:
"The support from the public has been phenomenal and clearly shows that the people of Brighton are on the side of GMB members in this dispute. Members have been particularly enthused by support from sister trade unions such as the CWU, Unison the FBU and Unite and also students from the local University who have all made donations to the strike fund and have supported our members on the picket line.”

Simon Burgess

Former leader of the council and Labour candidate for Brighton Kemp Town said:
"The council was sent a very strong message by both the ballot for strike
action and the high turnouts to picket on both days that Cityclean staff
would not accept such appalling wage cuts. The council offer on the table
now is a big step forward to meeting many of the staff concerns but there
are issues still to clarify.

"Having chatted with the strikers on both mornings I know how angry they are
that it took strike action and rubbish on the streets to get Tory leader
Mary Mears to finally wake up and negotiate. All of this could have been
avoided if she had acted even a week earlier which would have saved money
and avoided disruption to taxpayers."