THE Leeds bin strike, which entered its ninth week yesterday, could spread to Sheffield today.

As firefighters across South Yorkshire backed a fourth wave of strike action, binmen in Sheffield are today due to stage last-ditch negotiations with their employer Veolia, which runs refuse collection services for Sheffield Council.

Members of the GMB union are in dispute over differing pay rates for workers who perform the same duties, and union leaders said they would launch a ballot for industrial action if agreement was not reached.

In Leeds, binmen have been on strike since September 7 in a dispute over pay.

Yesterday, following "productive" talks, Leeds City Council leader Richard Brett said that if productivity improvements were implemented the refuse service would not be privatised. Further talks are due later this week.

Meanwhile South Yorkshire firefighters last night announced a fourth wave of strike action, which will come on top of the strikes which are already under way and those planned for November 6, 7, 8 and 9.

Members of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) have already staged two 24-hour strikes and are halfway through a series of eight-hour strikes in a dispute over shift times.

Although they are due to return to work on Thursday, they will walk out again on Friday as part of a third wave of action, and yesterday the union revealed strikes were also planned for November 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14.

Chief Fire Officer Mark Smitherman accused the FBU of "deliberately putting the public at risk".

The Royal Mail is to face legal action over the recruitment of 30,000 agency staff during the bitter post strike, union leaders announced last night.

The Communication Workers Union served notice of action in the High Court on Friday.

The company has denied that the 30,000 workers are being used to break the strikes, insisting they are dealing with the backlog of post as well as preparing for the Christmas rush.