It’s been six months since Birmingham’s bin workers walked out on strike.
The all-out strike started in March, but waste collections have been disrupted since January, leaving piles of rubbish in black bin bags cluttering the streets and residents complaining of a risk to public health.
Unite the union said at the beginning of September, members had voted “overwhelmingly” to extend the action mandate to March 2026, meaning bins could remain uncollected over Christmas.
Here is all you need to know about how the strike began, if rubbish is being collected and what happened to negotiations.
Why are workers striking?
More than 350 workers of the Unite union began a series of walkouts at the beginning of the year and decided to escalate into indefinite strike action on 11 March, citing fear over further attacks on their jobs, pay, and conditions.
The union claims the removal of the waste recycling and collection officer (WRCO) role will leave about 171 workers £8,000 worse off – as the number of workers working on bin lorries will be reduced from four to three.
The council said only 17 workers will be affected and will lose far less financially than Unite says.
It 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.
The council said it is also undertaking a “fair and transparent job evaluation” of the driver and team leader role, with plans to downgrade the role (meaning a decrease in salary).
It said all affected workers have been offered redeployment across the council at the same pay or voluntary redundancy, and that offer remains open.
Is rubbish being collected?
As the strike continues, the council has rolled out a contingency plan that allows for one weekly collection of waste from each property.
This includes clinical waste and assisted bin collections, but does not apply to recycling or garden waste bins, which are still not being collected.
Street cleaning crews are also being deployed to clear fly tipping and rubbish on the streets in the worst parts of the city on a daily basis.
However, the council has said picket lines outside waste collection depots have made sticking to contingency plans difficult, and has led to uneven waste collection.
It said in some areas wagons have been sent out much later in the day, for shorter periods of time, and others got fewer wagons out altogether.
In July, Birmingham City Council applied for contempt of court proceedings against Unite. It claimed at the time it had “persistent evidence” of a breach of a court order that was granted to try to stop the blocking of waste vehicles.
“Despite writing repeatedly to Unite for several weeks to highlight what we believe to be clear breaches of the injunction, the situation has worsened,” the council said in a statement.
Unite has said that since the injunction was put in place in May, it has worked with its members and representatives to “ensure that there has been compliance with the court order”.
Midlands correspondent
Six months ago, picket lines outside waste refusal depots were stronger in numbers and powerful enough to stop trucks leaving the depot to carry out collections.
Since then, there have been injunctions to prevent disruption, and now striking workers stand and watch as their colleagues drive past in the trucks that they too would usually occupy.
“We can’t give in, we won’t give in,” says David Callaghan.
“They want to take away £8,000 from my wage and everything’s going up at the moment – gas, electric, council tax, car insurance, everything, and they’re trying to take money from our pay packets.”
Refuse workers are used to early mornings.
It’s 7am and they’re smiling, chatting and sipping tea from disposable cups – but the placards resting against railings remind us: this is a protest.
While they tell me they are drained and disappointed – it’s clear they remain defiant.
“We are all here still striking for the right reasons,” says Wendy, the only woman on the picket line that day. “We are not asking for a pay rise, we are asking for a fair living.
“I rent from Birmingham City Council, so when I was told I’m having a pay cut, they put up my rent.”
While on strike, they do not receive payment in full and are instead compensated for their loss of earnings by the union, at a lesser rate.
But it’s a short-term sacrifice they’re prepared to make in order to avoid long-term cuts to their pay.
Some told me they’re already struggling to pay their bills, others say they’re having to ask their kids to help out.
But none of them wanted pity. They just want what they’ve earned – what they’ve always earned – for the work they love to do.
Plummeting recycling rates
Knock-on effects of the industrial action are still being felt across the city.
A mere 15.4% of all rubbish being generated in the city is being recycled, according to Birmingham Live. This is down from 22.9% before strike action began, according to council data.
Birmingham Live said that currently, most of the waste is being sent to landfill or incinerated, rather than being taken to recycling centres.
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Rotting food has also attracted foxes, cockroaches and rats, so much so that the council has suspended all pest control services except for rat treatments.
It said in order to “prioritise public health” rat treatment services are currently free of charge, and those who report problems may be provided with a free poison bait box.
What is happening with negotiations?
Negotiations between the council and union ended at the beginning of July. There has been no major update since.
John Cotton, the leader of Birmingham City Council, said at the time that the council had “reached the absolute limit of what we can offer”.
He said the union’s demands would leave the council with a similar equal pay bill that led to it declaring bankruptcy in 2023.
Having failed to reach an agreement, Mr Cotton said the council would “press ahead” with making improvements to the waste service.
In a statement to Sky News, the council said, although the industrial action continues, its contingency plan is “working and we are collecting household waste as scheduled”.
“We have been collecting an average of approximately 1,330 tonnes of kerbside waste every day, more than we did prior to industrial action, and over the last six months we have collected over 100,000 tonnes of kerbside waste,” it said.
The council added that it wanted to see the dispute end and that it understood residents’ frustrations.
In a further blow to negotiations, Unite said on 2 September members had voted to extend their industrial action mandate to March 2026.
It blamed the government for scuppering a deal that would have ended the dispute and said amendments to the Employment Rights Bill, allows councils in debt, like Birmingham, to fire and rehire their workers.
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Unite national lead officer Onay Kasab said: “Strike action will continue for as long as necessary with Unite’s unyielding support.
“The only way this dispute will end is with a fair and reasonable deal for Birmingham’s bin workers.”
The union said council leader Mr Cotton and fellow Unite Birmingham councillors have had their Unite memberships suspended.
The local government ministry said: “Unite must urgently end this strike, it has caused untold misery and disruption to the people of Birmingham and its end is long overdue.”
Where can residents take their rubbish?
Birmingham City Council have told residents that any uncollected rubbish should be left out to be taken away as soon as the council are able to.
Missed bin or sack collections can be reported online here.
Residents can take their waste to a household recycling centre, with waste disposal services available in Kings Norton, Castle Bromwich, Perry Barr, Sutton Coldfield and Tyseley.
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The authority also has two mobile household waste centres, external visiting all areas of the city.
As recycling collections are currently suspended, the council is encouraging residents to take recycling to a Household Recycling Centre. Those that cannot, have been told to keep hold of the waste “until the next opportunity”.
