Birmingham bin strikes: Thousands march in support of refuse workers

Union members from across the country joined the demonstration, which began at Unite’s offices on Jennens Road and wound through the city centre to the council house in Victoria Square.

The protest marked more than six months since the refuse workers escalated industrial action into an all-out strike, which has left household waste collections across Birmingham heavily disrupted.

Industrial action likely over Christmas

Unite members began their walkout on 11 March 2025, following months of dispute over pay and conditions.

At the start of September 2025, Unite voted “overwhelmingly” to extend their industrial action mandate until March 2026, raising the prospect of disruption stretching past Christmas and into Spring.

The row centres on the council’s decision to abolish the Waste Recycling and Collection Officer (WRCO) role.

The union said it feared that 150 workers faced losing £8,000 a year alongside claims of additional cuts to their pension payments.

Birmingham City Council has said that while it wants to resolve the dispute, reforms to the service cannot be delayed.

A spokesperson commented: “This is a service that needs to be transformed to one that citizens of Birmingham deserve and we cannot delay this any longer.”

Ending of negotiations

The dispute has drawn national attention due to its scale and the financial pressures on Birmingham City Council, which effectively declared bankruptcy in September 2023.

The local authority has been overseen by government-appointed commissioners since then.

Unite has claimed that the council’s restructuring measures are part of wider austerity-driven cost-cutting, with refuse workers left to bear the brunt.

On 9 July 2025, Birmingham City Council’s Leader, Councillor John Cotton, announced that the Labour-run council was “walking away” from ongoing negotiations with Unite.

He stated that the authority had “reached the absolute limit of what we can offer”, emphasising the need to proceed – for both financial sustainability and service improvement – even though the union had “rejected all offers”.