Unite boss joins Birmingham bin strike rally

The leader of Unite has joined striking Birmingham bin workers for a rally at one of the depots where the union was fined for obstructing waste lorries.

The union must pay £265,000 for contempt of court after "slow walking" in front of waste lorries in the city during the long-running dispute.

At the rally at Atlas depot in Tyseley on Thursday, Unite general secretary Sharon Graham described the industrial action as "one of most significant strikes in decades" and said she raised it with Sir Keir Starmer this week.

Birmingham City Council said it needed to transform the service and had tabled multiple fair and reasonable offers.

But Graham urged the council to "honour" a deal that was agreed in May so it could be put to her members for a vote.

She claimed that deal had been "blocked" by government commissioners managing the authority's financial affairs.

"We are fighting for these workers who were brought in one morning by Birmingham City Council and told they were going to cut their pay by almost a quarter," Graham said.

The union leader added the dispute was the first thing she raised with Starmer, despite having questions about workers in defence and energy sectors amid the Middle East conflict.

"Workers are scratching their heads asking 'who are Labour representing?'," she added.

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

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

Workers have been on strike since January last year, with all-out action ongoing since March 2025, over what the union said were pay cuts of up to £8,000.

Last week, Unite's executive council voted to cut its affiliation fee to Labour by £580,000 because of the bin dispute.

The general secretary said on Tuesday that "every single penny" of the contempt fine would come out of the money it previously paid to the UK's governing party.

Both striking council workers and agency workers employed by Job & Talent have recently voted to extend their industrial action mandate past May's local elections and into September.

Majid Mahmood, the council's cabinet member for environment and transport, said on Tuesday: "We are working to keep the city safe and clean and thanks to the injunction have maintained a weekly collection for Birmingham families.

"The fine of £265,000 (plus £170,000 interim payment in relation to the council's legal costs) was issued by the judge [and] will send a clear message about what is acceptable behaviour and what is not."

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