UNITE accused senior Birmingham city council officers of making “inaccurate and misleading statements” to councillors about the long-running bin workers’ strike today.

In a letter, the union disputed Birmingham lead commissioner Tony McArdle and managing director Joanne Roney’s claims to the authority’s corporate and finance scrutiny committee on the first anniversary of the strike last Tuesday.

The strike is against council plans to downgrade roles resulting in up to £8,000 loss in pay, according to Unite.

Negotiations ended last July after the Labour-run authority claimed it had “reached the absolute limit of what we can offer” amid equal pay fears.

Unite national lead officer Onay Kasab’s letter to committee chair councillor Albert Bore said that Mr McArdle falsely claimed that Unite ended negotiations and that bin workers are demanding “huge sums” of money.

The letter added Ms Roney “falsely claimed that the council has not brought in agency workers to break the strike.”

The council has spent over £1 million per month extra on agency and contract workers during the strike, three times more than previously, according to Unite.

A union spokesman added: “These workers are only asking for a fair settlement after the council slashed their pay by up to a quarter. The amount it would cost to end the strikes is dwarfed by the £20 million the council has spent fighting the dispute instead of settling it fairly.”

Unite said a “ballpark” deal that was agreed last year could not get past government-appointed commissioners; a second offer was much lower.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Our members taking industrial action and the general public deserve better than this. It is astonishing that both the council’s senior officer and lead commissioner have been openly providing councillors and the general public with untrue and inaccurate information about the dispute.

“Joanne Roney herself ended negotiations on the dispute after backtracking on the ballpark deal she made at Acas and she has refused to come back to the table ever since. At the very least, she should now apologise and put the record straight.

“As for the government commissioners who have constantly obstructed negotiations, misled on costs and overstepped their remit when it comes to this dispute — they ought to be sent packing.”

The council was contacted for comment.