Birmingham bin workers begin indefinite strike action
It's as a dispute with the city council over the scrapping of a 'safety critical' role continues.
Last updated 11th Mar 2025
Bin workers in Birmingham are going on indefinite strike action from today.
It's as the dispute between Unite the Union and Birmingham City Council over the scrapping of a “safety-critical” role continues.
Residents have already been forced to endure recycling collections being suspended and overflowing bins since industrial action started in January.
Piles of bin bags in the street have also blighted several areas across Birmingham, including Balsall Heath, Sparkhill, Aston, Selly Park, Northfield and more.
Frustrated Birmingham residents are calling for urgent action to be taken on the bins strike amid escalating fears over mounting rubbish and rats.
An online petition calling the council to “take immediate action to resolve the ongoing failures” has attracted more than 4,000 signatures as of Monday 10 March.
The petition’s organiser, Nicola Walker, wrote that overflowing bins “attract pests and create foul smells” and demanded an immediate resolution.
“The council are leaving the streets full of rubbish which in turn will make the city’s rat problem even worse,” one resident added.
“Birmingham City Council seem to be happy in constantly increasing our council tax and yet they don’t provide the service,” another said.
“When you log it as a missed collection, you then get a pointless email asking how their services can be improved.”
A third wrote: “My road’s a tip and a hazard!”
Communities across the city are feeling the impact.
In Selly Oak, an area popular with students, recycling bins are overflowing and rubbish bags are piling up in the streets.
A student, who shares a house with six other people, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service the area near the University of Birmingham had been “hit hard” by the industrial action.
She said her recycling bin, filled to the brim with waste, had not been collected in a month and complained about an unpleasant smell lingering over the neighbourhood.
Elsewhere in Allens Cross, resident Leanne Gregory has watched on in anger as rubbish bags begin to pile up in her area, which she previously said was “overrun” with rats.
“So many issues in this ward,” she said. “We have rats the size of feet – I’m absolutely seething.”
The prospect of rats spreading throughout the city has also become a pressing concern among local councillors and was a major talking point during last week’s critical budget meeting.
One councillor even warned there had been reports of “rats the size of cats”.
Coun Robert Alden, leader of the council’s Conservative group, said the sight of litter in the streets discouraged investment into Birmingham.
“Take a look along any of the arterial routes into the city, be it road or rail, and you can see rubbish everywhere you look,” he said.
“This is the city Birmingham Labour has created and the city they are showing to investors.
“Under Labour’s budget litter will go up, bins will go fortnightly and rats will spread.”
Unite organised the strike amid council’s plans to scrap the waste recycling and collection officer role, which the union described as “safety-critical”.
“We have a lot of support from residents,” Zoe Mayou, regional officer at Unite, told the LDRS during a demonstration last week.
“We are not doing this strike to hold the city to ransom.”
She said many Unite members were taxpayers living in Birmingham and feeling the impacts of the industrial action themselves.
A spokesperson for Birmingham City Council said:
“This escalation of industrial action will mean greater disruption to residents - despite the fair and reasonable offer that the council made to Unite the Union.
"To the small number of workers whose wages are impacted ongoing by the changes to the service (of whom there are now only 40) we have already offered alternatives, including highly valuable LGV Driver Training for career progression and pay, and other roles in the council equivalent to their former roles.
"No worker will lose the sums Unite are claiming.
"Residents of Birmingham want and deserve a better waste collection service and the restructure that Unite is opposing is part of the much-needed transformation of the service.
"Our door is still open, and we would encourage Unite to come back to the table.
“We thank residents for their continued understanding and patience so far and will continue to provide up-to-date information about our plans during the industrial action.”