On September 20, 2025, the heart of Birmingham pulsed with the energy of thousands rallying in solidarity with striking bin workers—a vivid scene that has come to symbolize a protracted and bitter labor dispute stretching back nine months. The city’s iconic Victoria Square became a sea of banners, chants, and determined faces as union members from across the country marched to support the workers, who have been locked in an increasingly acrimonious standoff with Birmingham City Council over pay cuts and job downgrades.
What’s at the core of this dispute? According to BBC reporting, it all began with intermittent industrial action on January 6, 2025, escalating into a full-blown, all-out strike by March 11. The spark: the council’s decision to remove Waste Recycling and Collection Officer roles, a move that left Grade 4 drivers facing pay cuts of up to £8,000 a year—a staggering sum that, for many, amounts to a quarter of their annual income. The union, Unite, has characterized the council’s job evaluation process as unfair, while the council insists it’s both “fair and transparent.”
For the workers, the stakes are deeply personal. Ronnie Mills, a bin worker from Castle Bromwich, shared her frustration with BBC: “I thought I’d be earning more money, and then the strikes have affected us because they’ve knocked us down. A lot of people are not happy with the £8,000 pay cuts, because it’s basic wages really. It’s not fair to cut people’s wages the way they have. That’s why we’re all here.” Mills, like so many others, wants to return to work—but not at a “drop-down wage.”
The dispute has not just been a matter of numbers on a payslip. In the initial weeks of the all-out strike, the city found itself drowning in up to 17,000 tonnes of uncollected waste, forcing the declaration of a major incident as rubbish piled up on street corners and recycling services ground to a halt. The frustration of residents was palpable, and the city’s image suffered. Yet, as BirminghamLive noted, the workers and their supporters have remained remarkably united and resilient, buoyed by a sense of collective purpose.
Unite’s general secretary, Sharon Graham, has become the public face of the strike. At the rally, she didn’t mince words, telling BirminghamLive: “Workers are feeling buoyant because they are feeling together and collected in what we are trying to do here. This is about workers. Some of these people have been drivers for 20 years, woke up one morning and were told they had to take an £8,000 pay cut, that is a quarter of some of these drivers’ pay.” Graham has repeatedly called for government intervention, arguing that only decisive action from above can break the deadlock and allow bin workers to “get back to work.”
The union’s position is clear: negotiations have stalled, and the council’s offers have been rejected as insufficient. In fact, Graham claims that a deal was hammered out in June 2025—only to be blocked by government commissioners. “With negotiations with the council, it is difficult to see how that continues. I came into the negotiations after five months of absolutely no movement,” she told BirminghamLive. She further alleged, “The council’s managing director Joanne Roney came into the room, we thrashed out a deal at ACAS, she was going away to bring that deal back and messages me to say that government commissioners wouldn’t allow it to go through.”
Meanwhile, formal redundancy consultations remain ongoing for around 170 bin truck driver leaders affected by the job downgrades. Some have accepted voluntary redundancy or moved to other roles, but the majority remain steadfast in their opposition. In September, the workers voted to extend the strike mandate until March 2026, signaling their readiness for a long haul should no resolution be reached.
From the council’s perspective, the situation is fraught with financial peril. Council leader John Cotton has stated that “extensive negotiations” broke down because Unite rejected all offers. The council argues that accepting the union’s proposals would risk further imperiling its financial situation, especially given the millions already paid out in equal pay claims across other departments. “We are disappointed the dispute has not been resolved as Unite has rejected all our offers, we are continuing to make regular waste collections as we prepare to implement the new and improved service,” a council spokesperson told BirminghamLive. “This is a service that has not been good enough for too long so it needs to be transformed to one that citizens of Birmingham deserve—we cannot delay this any longer.”
Despite the ongoing strike, the council has managed to maintain regular waste collections, thanks in large part to a new fleet of vehicles now fully operational as of September 2025. According to BirminghamLive, these vehicles are equipped with modern safety features, including 360-degree cameras, and have allowed the council to collect an average of approximately 1,330 tonnes of kerbside waste every day—more than before the industrial action began. Over the last six months, more than 100,000 tonnes of kerbside waste have been collected, with a reported 22% increase in tonnage collected per employee and a 52% reduction in missed collections.
But not everyone is convinced by the council’s claims. Graham remains skeptical, telling BirminghamLive, “You should ask the residents. It’s not a coincidence that only five percent of Birmingham residents have said they are going to vote Labour in the local elections. There are black bin bags in corners, rubbish stinking, there has been no recycling for months, it’s hardly a normal operation. It’s costing millions of pounds so there’s no best value to residents.”
As the battle grinds on, the human toll is evident—not just for the workers facing uncertain futures, but for the residents enduring months of disrupted services. Both sides profess a desire to see the dispute end, yet the gulf between them remains wide. The council insists its contingency plan is working and that the new fleet supports the city’s environmental goals, while the union maintains that only a fair deal will bring peace to Birmingham’s streets.
With Christmas approaching and the strike mandate now stretching into 2026, the question on everyone’s mind is: who will blink first? For now, the city waits, its patience tested, its waste bins a daily reminder of a conflict with no easy answers.
