Bin strike ‘sowing the seeds for Reform’, union warns as Birmingham workers extend action until September
Birmingham’s long-running bin strike is “sowing the seeds” for Reform UK to gain ground in the city, Unite the Union has warned, after refuse workers voted overwhelmingly to extend industrial action until at least September.
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Speaking to LBC, Unite The Union’s regional officer Onay Kasab said Labour-run Birmingham City Council’s handling of the dispute had created the conditions for political backlash, insisting the union had no interest in electoral game-playing: “What Birmingham City Council have done is they have sown the seeds for Reform,” he said. “That is not of Unite’s doing. It is the council’s actions, cutting workers’ pay and refusing to negotiate, that have led to this.”
The extension means the strike will now run beyond the local elections in May and into its second year, with many residents continuing to face infrequent rubbish collections and mounting public health concerns.
Unite says workers backed the extension with 100 per cent yes votes on a turnout of 70 per cent, a result Mr Kasab described as a “very, very strong indication” of continued resolve among strikers: “The only way that this is going to be resolved is through negotiation,” he told LBC. “This can be resolved tomorrow if the council agrees to sit down and talk.”
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The dispute began in January 2025 after Birmingham City Council fired and rehired refuse workers onto new contracts, which Unite says reduce pay by up to £8,000 a year. Job & Talent agency workers are also taking strike action, citing bullying, harassment and the threat of blacklisting.
Mr Kasab acknowledged the frustration felt by residents but said prolonged strike action was the result of the council’s refusal to negotiate: “It’s never okay for workers to have to take strike action for this length of time,” he said. “But it’s also never okay for an employer to refuse to sit down and negotiate. This is not about asking for more money, it’s about mitigating a very significant pay loss.”
Unite says it has already made concessions, including workers agreeing to lose more than £1,000 a year before full strike action began, and insists there are negotiated solutions that would modernise the service without creating future equal pay liabilities.
The union is also calling for central government intervention, describing the dispute as the biggest of its kind in the UK for years: “This needs an intervention to get people around the table,” Mr Kasab said. “What we don’t need is commissioners blocking deals.”
The Birmingham Conservative have again criticized Labour’s leadership of the council, accusing it of chaos and mismanagement. Cllr Robert Alden, Leader of the Opposition, said the continued disruption was a “damning indictment” of Labour’s failure to resolve the dispute. “For over a year, rubbish has piled up on our streets and Birmingham’s reputation has been dragged into the gutter,” he said.
In a statement to LBC Councillor Majid Mahmood said: “This is disappointing and will be immensely frustrating for the residents of Birmingham.
“We have invited Unite on multiple occasions to make a proposal to end the strike, which we would fully and carefully consider, but they have declined to do so thus far. They have also rejected our fair and reasonable offers.
“All of the 170 former WRCOs were successfully redeployed or elected to take VR.
“Of the 144 DTLs, the majority have agreed to accept the new role with the standard 6 months’ pay protection, with others taking voluntary redundancy or other alternative roles within the service.
“Given this it is hard to understand why the strike is continuing.
“Despite this, we are driving forward our service improvements, set to start rolling out in June whether or not the industrial action continues. My message to those still taking action is simple: come back to work, I want you to be part of this new, improved service.”