Bin men claim bosses have “intimidated” them into picking up waste left strewn on the streets.

For the last month, Cityclean staff at Brighton and Hove City Council have been taking unofficial industrial action in protest against planned changes to overtime and allowance payments.

With workers sticking to their contractual obligations, crews have been refusing to pick up waste outside containers and ending their rounds early if they run out of time.

But, with some residents complaining their bins had not been emptied for five weeks, The Argus understands managers visited the Hollingdean depot yesterday andwarned the workforce if they continued to “work to rule” they could face disciplinary proceedings.

Union representatives called it “intimidation and threatening behaviour”.

But Catherine Vaughan, the council’s finance director, said: “We have asked staff to do the work they are paid for.

“We believe that this is reasonable and what residents would rightly expect.”

It comes as union officials claim there has been a breakdownin talks despite both sides claiming theywant to come to a solution.

Mark Turner, of the GMB, said: “I have not heard from the council for seven days.

“In 28 years, I have never known a council leadership team not to talk “I can understand that feelings are running high and residents are upset but this is not our making.

“The longer it goes on, the more and more entrenched the workforce will become.”

In response, Ms Vaughan said: “We are committed to staying in close contact with union colleagues on thismatter and have scheduled in regular weekly meetings during the consultation period.”

Despite dozens of people across the city complaining about missed collections, the local authority confirmed that no staff wereworking overtime.

It added, over the bank holiday weekend the council hired four agency crews which cleared 120 tonnes of rubbish off the streets.

A council spokeswoman said: “Wedo not knowhowlong the disruption will last and we are sorry butwecannot provide a normal standard of service.

“We know that many residents have had one or more rubbish and/or recycling collections missed and we apologise for the impact this is having.