Binmen in Brighton and Hove are on the verge of strike action after a feud between staff and management came to a head.

Ken Bodfish, leader of the City Council, said the authority would not back down if refuse collectors voted to strike.

Union leaders said the council was "hell-bent on confrontation" and they were confident the workforce would back industrial action after a ballot which closes on Friday.

An overtime ban or work-to-rule is likely before a strike but the GMB has not ruled out a stoppage, which would occur at the height of summer.

Councillor Bodfish blamed refuse workers for poor collections in the city.

He said the council would carry on modernising the service whether or not workers decided to strike and he refused to reinstate a handful of workers suspended for taking unofficial industrial action.

He said: "Enough is enough.

For 20-odd years, the refuse service has been one of the most expensive in the country and the council taxpayers are not getting what they are entitled to get from a modern service.

"We have been taking action against a minority of our employees who have been unwilling to co-operate in modernising the service."

Coun Bodfish made his comments after talks between senior council and GMB officials broke down without agreement last Friday.

He said: "They wanted to talk about the situation and we listened very carefully. I asked them on several occasions what the heart of the dispute was about.

"I have had no firm response. The issue seems to be around what they call management style and they were unable to give any specific details of what this meant."

The union was angered by the recent suspension of 11 binmen who are accused of taking unofficial industrial action with a go-slow which left bin bags piling up on the streets for weeks.

The binmen said their rounds had been changed and they were unable to meet new targets for clearing the refuse.

But Coun Bodfish said: "I'm convinced the service we've set up is fair on our workers. I want to be a good employer but I also expect good employees - as are the majority.

The majority of our workforce want decent pay for a decent day's work."

The council took control of the refuse service in October 2001 after relationships with contractor Sita and its workers hit an all-time low, ending in strike action.

Coun Bodfish said the council had maintained the best terms and conditions of service for the workers including local government pensions, sick pay and a wage scale above that in London.

He said: "We assumed this would bring about a changed attitude on the part of the workers. This is the case for the overwhelming majority of workers."

GMB regional organiser Charles Harrity said: "It is an indictment of Cityclean management and their attitudes to the workforce that the GMB has found itself in the position of balloting its members over the fundamental issues of dignity and respect for the workplace.

"This management has to realise this is the 21st Century and their attitude to the workforce and trade unions belongs in the dustbin of history.

"Treating people with dignity and respect in the workplace is not a favour management can withdraw but is a fundamental right employees have the right to expect."

The union has launched a campaign to put its side of the escalating dispute in advance of the results of the ballot next Friday.

GMB officials are meeting residents' groups while binmen expect to deliver leaflets putting their case to every home in the city.

Mr Harrity said: "Unfortunately, I am faced with a management which is almost taking us back to the days of Sita."

At a meeting with residents of the Clifton Road area of Brighton yesterday, Mr Harrity said binmen were deeply disillusioned and demotivated by the actions of managers.

He said of the recent suspensions: "That is what has really pushed us over the edge."

Meetings with council chief executive David Panter, Cityclean assistant director Gillian Marston and other officials had been unproductive while the council had rejected a third-party examination of the suspensions.

He dismissed council claims that the performance of the suspended binmen had "gone through the floor", saying the amount collected had fallen from about 12 tonnes to about ten tonnes a day because of unrealistic changes to rounds.

The council seemed "hell-bent on confrontation" and had reverted to language that harked back to the days of industrial strife.

He said: "I personally have reached the end of the line and the workforce has reached the end of the line.

"This is the vocabulary of the Seventies and Eighties.

"If they want a modern and efficient service they need modern and efficient industrial relations and it comes at a price."