'The way we’ve been treated is disgusting' - Bin worker’s message to Birmingham residents one year since strikes began

The bins strike, which started on January 6 last year, was triggered by a dispute between the Labour-run city council and Unite the union over the loss of the Waste Recycling and Collection Officer role.

Striking workers have raised concerns about pay while the Labour-run council’s leadership has repeatedly insisted that a “fair and reasonable” offer had been made.

What followed the start of the strike was 12 months of turbulence, marked by heaps of rubbish piling up during the height of the industrial action; several protests; angry interruptions during council meetings and unwanted headlines for the city.

Hopes of reaching a resolution through negotiations also faded last summer, when the council said it ‘reached the absolute limit of what we can offer’.

The industrial action has now dragged on into 2026, with Unite prepared to continue the strike beyond May’s local elections this year.

Speaking after a council finance meeting today, refuse collector and Unite member Matthew Reid said the situation was “difficult for all of us”.

“We don’t want the streets to be a mess, we don’t want the people of Birmingham to suffer with no recycling, no garden collection, no bulky waste collection,” he said.

“We can’t understand why, for six months, [Birmingham City Council] can’t just talk to us.

“If we’re so far apart, we should be sitting around a table.”

On the prospect of the strike carrying on into the spring and summer, Mr Reid said: “Myself and my members are absolutely determined to just carry on.

“The way we’ve been treated is disgusting.”

Asked what his message is to Brummies across the city, he added: “I’m embarrassed that a Labour council can’t negotiate with a trade union to settle a waste dispute that should have been settled in July last year.

“Together we’ve put them through six months of pain, distress, rats and fly-tipping and it’s completely unnecessary.

“We should have stayed around the table and I can’t believe the council pulled out of negotiations.”

Speaking at the finance meeting, Birmingham Council managing director Joanne Roney said negotiations had been “cordial, polite and well managed on both sides”.

But she continued: “What is clear for Birmingham City Council is in settling this dispute, it cannot worsen the equal pay implications for the council.”

She went on to say that there were also ‘best-value’ considerations that will be looked at by government-appointed commissioners, sent in to oversee the council’s financial recovery.

“It is incredibly difficult to find a way through these various hurdles,” she said.

“Nobody is blaming the workers for this situation – this is a failure of Birmingham City Council for many years to not address its equal pay issues.”

She said two offers had been made to try and settle the dispute before being rejected by Unite, adding ‘doors remain open’ if the union wanted to make a proposal back.

Asked about Joanne Roney’s remarks, bin worker Matthew Reid said: “Well the doors are obviously not open.

“They say their doors are open for us to go back and get that offer they’ve offered us before, which we’ve already rejected.

“They’re just mounting more and more costs.”

‘Only viable option’

The council’s leadership has repeatedly faced calls to resume bins strike negotiations since last summer, with council leader John Cotton arguing last month that Unite had rejected a “succession of fair offers” that had been put on the table.

“[Unite] has asked us for stuff that frankly this council will not and cannot concede because it would reopen all of the challenges that we have faced over equal pay,” he said. “Challenges that we’re bringing to a close.”

“I would like to see this dispute brought to a close – but what I will not do is put at risk the financial viability of this council.”

Meanwhile the commissioners wrote in their latest report: “With no negotiations taking place, and no credible basis for any being evident, the council has moved to resolve the matter by offering alternative arrangements to the workforce.

“The majority have accepted one or other of these alternatives, but compulsory redundancy has had to be pursued in three cases.

“Maintaining this direction has required commendable fortitude in the face of frequent criticism and regular protest.”

They added: “We have been supportive of this approach and it remains in our view the only viable option open to the council.”