Shabana has written to constituents in Birmingham Ladywood in a major intervention in the Birmingham bin strike.

Bin workers have been undertaking all-out industrial action for more than a month.

In her letter, Shabana calls upon Unite to accept the fair deal offered by the council and get its members back to work.

You can read the letter in full below.

Letter to residents

Dear Resident

For over a month, our city of over 1 million people has been held to ransom.

Changes to a small number of roles in the waste service at Birmingham City Council has led to widespread disruption to bin collections.

Throughout the dispute I have been sharing information with residents, promoting our local litter picking groups, referring problem locations to the council, and closely monitoring the progress of talks between the council and Unite the union.

Since the council declared a major incident earlier this month, progress has been made clearing the backlog of waste in Birmingham. Residents are starting to notice the difference on our streets after the practice of slow-walking and depot-blocking has ended and a regular once-a-week service has resumed.

I am a member of the government, but first and foremost I am the Member of Parliament for Birmingham Ladywood. I was elected to stand up for my residents and be a voice for our city and its people.

I have used that voice to call out the disastrous state of the waste service before the latest round of industrial action. For the past 15 years, the service provided by the Council has simply not been good enough. My inbox is a testament to the frustrations residents have with the state of the streets. I have consistently called upon successive political leaders and service leaders to tackle what is one of Birmingham’s biggest problems, yet regular and reliable bin collections have not been delivered and dumped rubbish has plagued our streets. That’s why transformation, in practice and not just in name only, is critical.

The offer on the table to resolve this dispute is fair. It acknowledges the long-term service of workers in the waste service and makes much-needed changes to bring Birmingham in line with local authorities up and down the country.

It is up to Unite to take the national politics out of this issue and get its members back to work for the sake of our city. Some of the behaviour we have seen on the picket line has been unacceptable. National leaders should stop using our city and its people as a battlefield for national campaigning, and listen to local trade union officials who have the best interests of workers and the people of Birmingham at heart.

Amid the crisis there are those who deserve our gratitude: Bin workers who are making the decision to go to work and collect our rubbish during the strike, our community of volunteer litter pickers who are still out keeping our streets clean, and residents across Birmingham for their patience during one of the most difficult times I can remember for our city – thank you for putting Birmingham first.

Yours sincerely

Shabana Mahmood

Member of Parliament for Birmingham Ladywood