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Bin workers have voted to continue striking, days after Birmingham City Council made a new pay offer to bring the strike to an end.

Unite, the bins union representing nearly 400 staff, say there was a near unanimous vote to continue industrial action.

Some 97 per cent of staff voted in favour of continuing with the strike, on a 75 per cent turnout. The ballot was held to demonstrate a continuing mandate for industrial action.

READ MORE: Birmingham council leader hits back at bin strike union's 'missing' jibes after pub encounter

It comes shortly after workers were informed on Friday last week of a new 'fair and reasonable' offer from the council. The details remain under wraps but we understand it involved a

compensation payment of 'several thousands of pounds' and alternative jobs or voluntary redundancy.

The council has responded this afternoon to say it continues to seek to resolve the dispute but the service has to be transformed 'to one that the citizens of Birmingham deserve'.

A union statement revealing the outcome of the ballot was headlined: "Birmingham bin strike could last until December as workers vote for further industrial action".

Strikes began in January after the council deleted 170 jobs held by Waste Recycling and Collection Officers (WRCO) on the bin crews as part of a service transformation. The role was axed

because it was also implicated in millions of pounds of equal pay claims.

But the union said affected workers faced pay cuts of up to £8,000 a year, triggering strike action. They warned affected workers faced being unable to pay bills, rents or mortgages as a

result.

The dispute moved to an all out strike on March 11 that is now in its 13th week.

Also drawn into the dispute were council bin truck drivers, who have separately been told they face having their roles downgraded as part of a mass job evaluation exercise under way across

the council. They say dropping from Grade 4 to Grade 3 would also leave them thousands of pounds out of pocket each year.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said today: “After smearing these workers in public since January and telling them to accept a fair and reasonable offer that never existed, the council

finally put a proposal in writing last week.

“True to form, the proposal came weeks late and was not in line with the ballpark offer discussed during Acas talks in May." She claimed it had been 'watered down by the government

commissioners and the leader of the council despite them never having been in the negotiations' - a claim strongly denied by the council who say neither commissioners nor council leader John

Cotton have 'watered down' the proposal.

Graham continued: “It beggars belief that a Labour government and Labour council is treating these workers so disgracefully. It is hardly surprising that so many working people are asking

whose side Labour is on.

“The decision makers at Birmingham council need to get in the room and put forward an acceptable offer. Unite will not allow these workers to be financially ruined – the strikes will

continue for as long as it takes. Unite calls on the decision makers to let commonsense prevail in upcoming negotiations.”

A council spokesperson said this afternoon: "This is a service that needs to be transformed to one that the citizens of Birmingham deserve and the council remains committed to resolving this

dispute.