![\"Striking](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/0_JS374817570.jpg\")
Striking refuse collection workers are once again delaying bin lorries leaving Birmingham City Council depots leading to delays and in some cases missed bin collections once again(Image: Guy Smallman\/Getty Images)<\/p>\nMissed bin collections are back on the agenda as striking refuse workers step up their action in the more than six-month long pay dispute with Birmingham City CouncilStriking refuse collection workers are once again delaying bin lorries leaving Birmingham City Council depots leading to delays and in some cases missed bin collections once again(Image: Guy Smallman\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Striking refuse collectors are causing disruption again hindering bin lorries from exiting the council\u2019s bin depots.<\/p>\n
Birmingham City Council<\/a> has confirmed there have been delays at \u2018some\u2019 of its depots on Wednesday (July 16) morning and this will once again hit bin collections.<\/p>\n The council posted a \u2018waste update\u2019 on X and said: \u201cDue to actions on the picket line there are delays in waste wagons leaving some of our depots this AM.<\/p>\n \u201cThis may affect the number of collections we are able to make. If today is your collection day please leave your bins out and we will collect asap.\u201d<\/p>\n Read more: Birmingham bin strike sinks to new low – all we know right now<\/a><\/p>\n An injunction had been in place which appeared to have stopped striking bin workers delay bin trucks from leaving depots.<\/p>\n But the council confirmed delays had started again this week.<\/p>\n West Midlands Police<\/a> was asked why its officers had not intervened and it said: \u201cWe continue to have a policing presence at sites across Birmingham<\/a> as and when required as a result of the current industrial action.<\/p>\n \u201cWe attend to deal with any breach of the peace and to ensure any crimes are investigated accordingly.<\/p>\n \u201cWe continue to assess the situation and ensure our presence at the sites is in line with our core policing responsibilities.\u201d<\/p>\n While a Unite spokesperson said: \u201cOur members, as always, are engaged in peaceful and lawful picketing.\u201d<\/p>\n The ongoing bin strike which began in January, and escalated in March to an all-out strike, shows no signs of abating with Birmingham City Council<\/a> saying last week jobs are now at risk of redundancy.<\/p>\n The bitter row, now more than six months old, began on January 6 when the council said it was removing 170 Waste Recycling and Collections Officer roles.<\/p>\n The reason the council wants to do so is the risk of multi-million-pound equal pay claims if those roles continue, with other council workers then demanding the same level of pay.<\/p>\n Read more: Unite ‘suspend council leader and Angela Rayner’ over bin strike row<\/a><\/p>\n But Unite the Union said its members faced pay cuts of up to \u00a38,000 from their salary \u2013 something they were not prepared to accept, leading to walkouts.<\/p>\n Then in April some 200 drivers, mainly men, were told they too faced pay cuts as part of the equal-pay review, with drivers set to be downgraded from the Grade 4 paygrade to Grade 3 \u2013 a lower level.<\/p>\n The city council last week announced some 130 workers \u2013 all senior drivers \u2013 are now at risk of redundancy.<\/p>\n Council leader, Cllr John Cotton said: \u201cWe have negotiated in good faith, but unfortunately, Unite has rejected all offers.<\/p>\n \u201cSo we must now press ahead to both address our equal pay risk and make much-needed improvements to the waste service.<\/p>\n \u201cUnite\u2019s demands would leave us with another equal pay bill of hundreds of millions of pounds, which is totally unacceptable, and would jeopardise the considerable progress we have made in our financial recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n But Unite hit back and said the council\u2019s move is effectively a fire and rehire policy.<\/p>\n And it vowed its workers would go on strike until \u2018 Christmas<\/a> and beyond\u2019 if necessary.<\/p>\n Unite general secretary, Sharon Graham, said: \u201cLet’s be very clear, what Birmingham city council has proposed is fire and rehire in a Labour council under a Labour government.<\/p>\n \u201cCouncil leader John Cotton has never been in negotiations and Angela Rayner, who is responsible for the government commissioners, is now complicit in the fire and rehire of these workers.<\/p>\n \u201cYet again workers are being asked to pay the price for the incompetence of this Labour council and Labour government.”<\/p>\n![\"Bin](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/0_JS374817561.jpg\")
Bin workers have now passed the half-year mark of strike action as they say ‘No Cuts To Pay’ in the ongoing bitter waste row (Image: Guy Smallman\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/0_076A8989JPG.jpg\")
(Image: Nick Wilkinson\/Birmingham Live)<\/p>\n