City council declares 'major incident' after Birmingham bin strikes cause chaos amid mounting rubbish piles

31 March 2025, 17:01

In the last hour Birmingham City Council has declared a major incident over bin strikes in the city.

The local authority says 17-thousand tonnes of waste remain on the streets - as picket lines block rubbish lorries from leaving depots.

The major incident means more cleaning teams can be deployed - and is a first step towards seeking help from other councils or the government.

A fresh round of talks between the Unite Union and Birmingham City Council began today in a last-ditch attempt to end the industrial action, as striking workers were told if they don’t take a deal they’ll be sacked.

There’s also concerns that the strike could lead to a ‘Public Health Emergency’.

All out strike action by the refuse collectors began four weeks ago on March 11 in a row over pay and conditions, as the city council proposed scrapping the ‘Grade 3 Critical Safety Officer’ role, and returning staff to the grade 2 role.

Weeks’ worth of rubbish has piled up on the streets across Birmingham, with some residents reporting they’ve seen ‘rats the size of cats’ eating the waste across the city.

The Labour Mayor of the West Midlands, Richard Parker, asked Unite to suspend the strike action over fears of people becoming ill due to the unemptied bins.

Referring to the workers on the picket line, Mr Parker said: “The city cannot be held to ransom by such a small number of people.”

Councillor John Cotton, leader of Birmingham City Council, said: "It's regrettable that we have had to take this step, but we cannot tolerate a situation that is causing harm and distress to communities across Birmingham.

"I respect the right to strike and protest, however actions on the picket line must be lawful and sadly the behaviour of some now means we are seeing a significant impact on residents and the city's environment.

“Unless we declare a major incident and deploy the waste service’s contingency plan, then we would be unable to clear the backlog of waste on the streets or improve the frequency of collections.

“I want to thank residents for their continued patience under difficult circumstances and the community groups who have been working hard within their communities to help with clear-up.

“I would reiterate that we have made a fair and reasonable offer to our workers which means none of them have to lose any money and I would urge Unite to reconsider their position.”

Read More: Fury as more than one in ten UK councils could slash frequency of bin collections – will you be affected?

Unite have told LBC the changes will cost their workers £8,000 per year in a pay cut.

Onay Kasab, the National lead for the Union said: “It means the vast majority of staff working in refuse in Birmingham will be on just above the national minimum wage. That's a disgrace.”

“The council's position and the fact that we are going back into talks on Monday is really testing my eternal optimism. I'm always optimistic, always want to talk. We try and resolve these things now.

"We could have just walked away after the way they behaved today, but we're not. We're going to turn up on Monday and hope that they have had a change of heart and engage in serious discussion with us.”

Birmingham City Council released a statement after the talks collapsed on Thursday (March 27) without a deal being reached: “It is regrettable that it has come to this, the council has consistently tried to find a solution to the industrial action.

"We have made a very fair offer which means that no worker need lose any money. That offer remains open.

“We confirm that regrettably we have informed Unite representatives that next week we will formally notify and enter a period of collective consultation regarding compulsory redundancies for those who have declined all offers on the table.

“This is about securing a better waste service for the people of Birmingham. We thank staff who are working under difficult conditions and recognise the frustration of residents for which we apologise.”

The council usually deploys around 200 vehicles over 8-hour daily shifts. Our contingency allows 90 vehicles per day but because of pickets blocking depots they are deployed much later and therefore for shorter working periods.

Normally they would make well over 500,000 collections per week.