BIRMINGHAM City Council must “come to its senses,” Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said today as fresh talks aimed resolving the seven-week-long bin workers’ strike got under way.

She said that the Labour-run authority’s leader John Cotton needed to be in the negotiating room to resolve the indefinite stoppage over council plans to abolish the role of waste recycling and collection officer.

Speaking before the talks restarted under the auspices of conciliation service Acas, Ms Graham, who is leading the union’s negotiating team, said: “Please get the decision-makers in the room — John Cotton needs to be in the room, along with the commissioner [Max Caller], who seems to be somebody who’s got a lot to say about the dispute.