Council leader calls for bin strike talks to restart

The leader of Birmingham City Council has said he wants the authority and Unite union to "get back round the table" to end a year of strike action.

In a video posted on social media, councillor John Cotton addressed refuse workers, calling for an "end to this stalemate", urging the union to be "realistic" in their negotiations and acknowledge the council's constraints.

The council walked away from negotiations in July, saying at the time it had "reached the absolute limit" of what it could offer.

The BBC has approached Unite for comment. Speaking at a rally on Thursday, its general secretary Sharon Graham said she had raised the strike with the prime minister this week.

"I am a trade union leader. For me, this is the most important thing - that workers are treated fairly," she told workers at the rally.

"I wouldn't expect a Labour council to be treating workers like this."

Graham also called for a deal that she said was voiced in May to be put back on the table.

All-out strike action has been ongoing in Birmingham since March 2025 after the council's decision to remove Waste Recycling and Collection Officer (WRCO) roles.

The union claimed the roles were important for safety and that about 170 affected workers faced losing up to £8,000 a year because of the decision - but the local authority has always disputed those figures.

Birmingham City Council added that the WRCO role simply did not exist in other areas.

The dispute later spread to bin lorry drivers, with Unite saying their pay could fall from £40,000 to £32,000.

In walking away from negotiations last year, the council said it was constrained by a pay grading structure that sought to avoid equal pay claims.

The local authority has had to pay out hundreds of millions of pounds since 2012 after the GMB and Unison unions brought claims on behalf of low-paid workers, arguing women working as teaching assistants, catering staff and care workers were not able to earn the same as male counterparts in other roles across the workforce.

The strike has proved costly for both Unite and Labour.

At the beginning of this week, Unite was told it must pay £265,000 for breaching a court injunction after members were found to have slow walked in front of waste lorries near depots to impede agency crews.

A week before, Unite decided to cut affiliation fees it pays to Labour by £580,000.

In what seems to be a turning of the tide, Cotton appealed to the waste workforce to support a new, improved service, offering pay protection, new roles, and training opportunities to avoid job losses.

"The people of Birmingham want this resolved, and the workers want to go back to work," he said.

"I want to get around the table with unite as soon as possible, but they will need to be realistic."

At the same time as dealing with the dispute, the council has been trying to introduce long-term improvements to its waste service, with it being among the worst performers in the country for recycling rates, even before the strike began.

New negotiations are yet to start, but it seems the two sides have reopened a public dialogue, albeit by setting out entrenched positions.

It does prepare the ground for formal negotiations to restart at some point in the future and that would be a significant step.

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