Overview

• After six months of industrial action over the elimination of 170 Waste Recycling and Collection Officer roles, Birmingham City Council has officially closed negotiations with Unite and will notify bin workers of formal redundancy consultations
• Weekly residual bin collections have been maintained under contingency plans and a High Court injunction, but recycling, garden waste and food waste services remain suspended
• Council leader John Cotton warns that Unite’s pay demands would create hundreds of millions of pounds in additional equal pay liabilities, leaving redeployment, training and voluntary redundancy as the only viable paths
• The GMB union has launched a consultative ballot among around 3,000 mainly female school staff to gauge support for equal pay strike action, raising the prospect of fresh industrial unrest
• Both disputes highlight the council’s ongoing financial recovery from its 2023 de facto bankruptcy under government commissioners and the challenge of fulfilling statutory pay obligations within tight budgets