The city council has insisted the changes it is trying to implement would improve the waste and recycling service for residents, with the city’s recycling rates historically among the worst in the country.
It added that affected workers had been offered other jobs, voluntary redundancy or pay protection for six months.
Earlier this month, the BBC was informed talks to resolve the dispute had broken down completely and some bin lorry drivers were at risk of compulsory redundancy.
The union had previously suggested Grade 4 drivers could see their pay drop from £40,000 to £32,000 under council plans.
Conciliation service Acas had been mediating in the negotiations since May but the local authority walked away from those.
At the time, council leader John Cotton said it had “reached the absolute limit” of what it could offer in talks with the union.
Unite’s general secretary Sharon Graham claimed the council had resorted to a “fire and rehire” strategy, which she said would not work.