Birmingham bin strike: Why are they striking and why have they declared a major incident?

1 April 2025, 15:48

How long will the Birmingham bin strikes last for? Here's everything you need to know as a major incident is declared in the city.

Birmingham City Council has been forced to declare a major incident as the bin men strike continues across the city.

With an estimated 17,000 tonnes of rubbish and waste left uncollected, the bin men are now entering their fourth week of strikes as they attempt to end an ongoing dispute over lost job roles and pay.

The council has said daily pickets have blocked their depots meaning workers can not get out to clear waste off the streets. Public health concerns have also been risen as a result.

Here's everything you need to know about the Birmingham bin men strike including the reasons, how long it will go on for and what the latest council crisis declaration means.

READ MORE: Birmingham bin chaos: Striking workers face sack as talks resume amid mounting rubbish piles

READ MORE: Why are bills going up so much? Reasons behind council tax and energy bill price surge

Why are the Birmingham bin men striking?

Those who are members of the Unite union went on a full strike over how the roles of waste recycling and collection officers were removed. The union claims this move will leave around 150 members £8000 a year worse off.

They also have fears that further jobs, pay and conditions could change in the future.

The union has declared the strike will continue unless all changes for the bin collectors were reversed.

In response, the council has said collection officer jobs were removed to be in line with national practice and counter-argued that only 17 members of staff would lose a maximum of £6,000 in pay.

How long will the Birmingham bin strike last for?

The bin strikes officially began with walkouts, around 350 workers, in January and as of March 11th, they escalated to indefinite strikes after no decent negotiations were made.

As it stands, no official end date has been given but Birmingham City Council is hoping for rubbish collections to return to normal as soon as possible.

Both Unite and the council are open to further negotiations but are yet to have any successful offers put on the table.

What does Birmingham City Council's major incident declaration mean?

With the streets lined with black bags, the declaration means the council will be able to increase street cleaning and fly-tip removal by commissioning 35 extra vehicles to help clean up the city.

Bin lorries will now be able to leave their depot and they can call on local councils to come and help.

Residents have been advised to continue putting out rubbish as normal and leaving it there until it's collected. Recycling collections are currently suspended with people advised to head to local centres to do so.