It has been more than a year since Birmingham bin workers began their all-out strike which has left residents without a fully functioning waste collection service, and there is still no end in sight.
The strikes have attracted global media attention as images emerged of huge rubbish bins and overflowing skips on the streets of the UK’s second largest city.
We are in the second year of this dispute – one of the longest in modern times – but how did we get here?
Why did Birmingham container workers go on strike?
Unite, the union representing waste workers, began its strike action in early January 2025 over proposed pay cuts and role changes, including the removal of the Waste Collection and Recycling Office role.
The union claimed this would put the safety of its workers at risk and cost some members £8,000 a year, a figure the council has disputed.
The council claimed that such a role did not exist in other areas and cited the risk that it could make the authority liable for another equal pay claim. The council has had to pay millions in equal pay settlements in recent years.
Then, in March 2025, the dispute escalated into an indefinite general strike.
Why have negotiations between the council and the union broken down?
The council and Unite were in talks last summer, but those negotiations collapsed in July.
The council said it had “reached the absolute limit of what we can offer”, citing the risk of further equal pay claims being made if it acceded to the demands.
However, Unite claimed that government-appointed commissioners, who were brought in to oversee the council’s financial recovery after it declared bankruptcy in 2023, had blocked a deal between the union and the council that would have resolved the dispute.
Since then, talks have not resumed.
Majid Mahmood, the council’s cabinet member for environment and transport, apologized for the disruption the strikes have caused a year on, but said “our door remains open” to negotiations and Unite had rejected all offers so far.
Unite announced on Wednesday that it would cut its ties with the Labor Party.
What impact have the strikes had on residents?
Birmingham residents have been without a fully functioning rubbish collection service, not even recycling collection, for more than a year.
In May last year, the city council declared a serious incident in the city due to public health concerns over 17,000 tonnes of waste left on the streets.
Then reports emerged that trash was being removed in more affluent parts of the city, while mountains of garbage bags remained in other areas.
The strikes have had a huge impact on the city, with reports of infestations of rats, worms and huge queues at waste collection points.
Is the garbage being cleaned?
The city council insists that its contingency plan guarantees that each home receives weekly waste collection.
The high court has also granted the council an injunction against people blocking waste bins.
However, in December last year, temporary workers who worked during the strikes joined the picket lines for the first time over allegations of intimidation and harassment.
When will the strike end?
Unite threatens that the strike could last until at least September unless a deal is reached with the council.
Local elections in Birmingham in May, in which all 101 council seats are up for grabs, may precipitate the end of Labor control of the authority.
If so, the new administration will want to be seen as responsible for ending the dispute.
