Birmingham: Waste Collection

Julian Lewis Excerpts
Tuesday 22nd April 2025

(1 week, 2 days ago)

Commons Chamber
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Urgent Questions are proposed each morning by backbench MPs, and up to two may be selected each day by the Speaker. Chosen Urgent Questions are announced 30 minutes before Parliament sits each day.

Each Urgent Question requires a Government Minister to give a response on the debate topic.

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Julian Lewis Portrait Sir Julian Lewis (New Forest East) (Con)
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Given that the Minister no doubt sincerely believes that the offer on the table is a good one, why does he think the unions are not accepting it?

Jim McMahon Portrait Jim McMahon
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It is clear from the negotiations that there are a number of moving parts. I should declare that we are not replicating those negotiations in this Chamber; they should be between the employer, the employees and the trade unions, and we should not try to circumvent that here. Our belief is that the agreement strikes the right balance between giving support to the workers affected—those in the WRCO roles—and not undermining the equal pay work that has been done. For far too long, we have seen women being underpaid for the work that they do.