Why is the Birmingham bin strike taking so long to resolve?
Birmingham residents have spent months dealing with piles of rubbish in the street after an all-out strike by bin workers. What is behind the industrial action, and why is it taking so long to settle the dispute between the union and council?
Wednesday 21 May 2025 11:13, UK
Piles of rubbish bags have become a regular sight on Birmingham's streets in the first half of the year as the city contends with a long-running bin strike.
Birmingham City Council declared a major incident on 31 March, saying the "regrettable" move was taken in response to public health concerns, as picket lines were blocking depots and preventing waste vehicles from collecting rubbish.
The all-out strike started on 11 March, but waste collections have been disrupted since January.
Here is everything you need to know.
Why are workers striking?
More than 350 workers of the Unite union began a series of walkouts in January and decided to escalate into indefinite strike action on 11 March, citing fear over further attacks on their jobs, pay and conditions.
The union has said that the removal of the waste recycling and collection officer (WRCO) role will leave about 150 workers £8,000 worse off - as the number of workers working on bin lorries will be reduced from four to three.
The council says only 17 workers will be affected and will lose far less than Unite is claiming.
It also said it scrapped the WRCO role to put the city's waste operations in line with national practice and to improve its waste collection service.
It said all workers have been offered alternative employment at the same pay, driver training or voluntary redundancy and that offer remains open.
Why is it taking so long to settle the dispute?
Unite, the union representing striking workers, and the city council have failed to reach an agreement since the strike began in March, with Unite holding firm on the strike action despite pressure from the government.
Members rejected the council's offer in April by 97% on 60% turnout, saying it was "totally inadequate" and did not address potential pay cuts for 200 drivers.
The union's general secretary Sharon Graham said the rejection was "no surprise" as "workers simply cannot afford to take pay cuts of this magnitude to pay the price for bad decision after bad decision".
Meanwhile, the government and council said it was a "significantly improved" offer.
Council leader John Cotton told Sky News' Midlands correspondent Lisa Dowd in April that it "pained" him to see pictures of mounds of rubbish and rats feeding off the mess being broadcast around the world.
He said the only way for the normal waste collection schedule to resume was for the strike to end - but added the cash-strapped council has "red lines" that it will not cross during negotiations.
Deputy prime minister Angela Rayner visited the city on 10 April and urged the union to end the "misery and disruption" by accepting a pay deal.
The cost of the ongoing clean-up could cause more damage to the council, which effectively declared bankruptcy in 2023.
Government accused of 'sabotaging' talks
Talks resumed on 1 May, but Unite has claimed the city council has missed three deadlines to submit a revised pay offer since then.
In a statement on 21 May, the union said: "Talks aimed at resolving the Birmingham bin strike have been sabotaged by government commissioners."
General secretary Sharon Graham added: "Unite deals with thousands of negotiations every year. From the council side, the negotiations in this dispute have been a shambles, with the government right at the heart of it."
She claimed the leader of Birmingham City Council "should stop playing games, get in the room and solve this dispute" - adding: "Bin workers, residents and the public at large have all been lied to.
"The bottom line is that our members can't afford to have savage pay cuts of up to £8,000 with no mitigation. Until that issue is addressed the strikes will continue."
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said: "It is simply false to suggest the commissioners or the leader of the council have blocked attempts to resolve this deal, and we continue to urge Unite to suspend its strike action and both parties to reach agreement on a fair and reasonable offer."
A Birmingham City Council spokesperson said it is "fully committed" to ending the dispute - and it is "untrue" to imply its leader is blocking the process.
How have residents been affected?
Normally, the city's waste teams would make more than half a million collections in a week, with 200 vehicles deployed over eight-hour daily shifts.
The effects of the all-out strike were quickly felt, as rubbish was left piled on pavements and residents complained of a risk to public health, as rotting food attracted foxes, cockroaches and rats.
Rashid Campbell, a local resident who is part of a volunteer litter-picking team from the Birmingham Central Mosque, told Sky's Shamaan Freeman-Powell that 12 members of his team collected 24 bags of rubbish from two Birmingham streets on Easter Sunday.
"If we don't [litter-pick], we're just going to be drowning in rubbish," he said.
Latifat Abdul Majed Isah said even in some places where bins had been taken away, the street remained "dirty, unpalatable and unpleasant to see".
Joseph McHale, a rat-catcher from Vergo Pest Management, told Sky News in April that discarded bin bags provide vermin with "somewhere to hide, somewhere to feed, somewhere to stay warm".
He said his business had seen a 60% increase in people from Birmingham calling them for help.
How have authorities responded?
The government called in military planners to help tackle the mounting piles of rubbish. The office-based staff are providing logistical support to Birmingham's council and soldiers are not clearing rubbish.
Communities minister Jim McMahon said on 22 April "significant progress" had been made in dealing with the remaining tonnes of rubbish, adding that through "a concerted effort" and with the assistance of other councils, private operators and workers, 26,000 tonnes of excess waste had been removed, and the levels were "approaching normal".
In an update on 17 April, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said 100 to 120 rubbish collection vehicles had been out daily, with crews clearing around 1,500 tonnes of waste a day.
The council has also repurposed up to 60 housing and street cleaning vehicles and deployed large "grab trucks" to clear large rubbish piles, it said.
It said all the large accumulations of rubbish in the worst-hit areas had been cleared before the Easter weekend, along with 85% of street waste citywide.
Residents are able to dispose of household general waste and bulky items at the council's mobile household waste centres, without prebooking.
To recycle household items, locals are required to book a slot at one of the council's household recycling centres.
Could it spread to other areas?
The union's general secretary has warned the strikes could "absolutely" spread to other areas.
"If other councils decide to make low-paid workers pay for bad decisions that they did not make, workers paying the price yet again, then absolutely, of course, we all have to take action in those other areas," Sharon Graham told LBC.
Follow our channel and never miss an update
The union's national lead officer Onay Kasab agreed, telling BBC Four: "Well, if other local authorities look to cut the pay of essential public service workers, then there is the potential for strike action spreading.
"That's why different political choices need to be made."
Ms Graham also criticised the government, saying it had taken them "a huge amount of time to get involved in the dispute".
How does the strike compare to previous action?
The strike has become one of the longest the UK has seen in recent years.
Back in 1978-79, the winter of discontent led to rubbish piling up on the streets of London, as the waste collection industry joined other trade unions in demanding larger pay rises in response to government caps.
More recently, more than 200 bin workers in the Wirral went on a week-long strike in 2022, eventually securing a 15% pay rise. In the same year, a similar dispute over pay saw rubbish pile up in Edinburgh during the city's busy festival season.