Birmingham City Councillors have attacked the Labour group for causing misery to residents following yesterday's High Court ruling on the recent bin strikes.
The strike was suspended after the Royal Courts of Justice provided an interim injunction against the City Council's attempt to make workers redundant.
A full trial will now be taking place in November for five days to determine if the council acted unlawfully in issuing redundancy notices.
Members of Unite the Union asked the High Court to grant the order against the City Council's bid to cut staff and alter working patterns.
Birmingham's Labour-run council has heaped unnecessary misery on residents
Councillor Deidre Alden, Conservative Spokesperson for Clean Streets, Recycling and the Environment, said: "As a result of the decision today, the case will now go to a full trial, protracting a conclusion to the chaos which Birmingham residents have had to endure for 80 days already. What people really want to know is when they will see a return to a regular and reliable waste collection service, not the technical and legal arguments around what is, or is not, a decision or a deal.
"It's clear Birmingham's Labour-run council has heaped unnecessary misery on residents at considerable cost to the taxpayer- and it isn't over yet."
The hearing focused on former council leader John Clancy's decision to scrap a deal that would enable workers to retain their jobs.
Neither party emerges from this episode with any credit at all
Mr. Justice Fraser said neither party emerges from this episode with any credit at all. He said there were a number of words he could deploy to describe the saga, extraordinary being one of them.
The former Labour leader resigned last week hours before he was due to face a vote of no confidence over the fall-out following the deal he tried to strike with Unite.
He was facing calls from councillors on all sides of the political spectrum to step down.
Conciliation service Acas said on 16th August that the City Council had accepted the workers' case and safeguarded the positions of grade three workers, who are responsible for safety at the back of bin lorries.
Unite declared victory after seven weeks of striking on 16th August, saying they quit the strikes to proceed with negotiations.
But they returned to the picket lines after the deal was deemed to be too expensive.
The City Council postponed a discussion of the Waste Management Report originally adjourned from 24th August to a Special Cabinet on 1st September, to a reconvened meeting on 13th September. The 1st September meeting was cancelled.
Mr. Fraser revealed documents that suggested an internal struggle at the council. He said he could not fathom Mr. Clancy's motivation and read out an email sent on 15th August from the interim chief executive Stella Manzie to the former Labour leader, saying the council could not afford to look weak.
What the decision does show is the blatant negligence of former council leader John Clancy
Ian Cruise, the Independent Councillor for Longbridge, said: "The judgement to grant the injunction served by Unite the Union until a full trial is disappointing, but not surprising. What the decision does show is the blatant negligence of former council leader John Clancy who ignored the legal advice of council officers, went to Acas and agreed an unauthorised deal that was undeliverable.
"I am alarmed by the attempts of John Clancy and Howard Beckett of Unite to bypass the executive functions and the lawful operation of the council. As the strike is now suspended, I call on both sides to engage in talks that are meaningful, realistic and within the lawful remit of the council."
During the past round of bin strikes, "rat hotels" have emerged from piles of rubbish, which attracted flies that carried diseases.
Birmingham City Council and Councillor Roger Harmer, the Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrat group, were both approached for a comment, but declined to do so.
