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Birmingham bin strikes to continue for months, union warns, as industrial dispute deepens

On Monday, agency workers employed by Job&Talent voted to stop their council-assigned roles, with all 22 backing action and gaining legal protection to picket from December 1.
A job evaluation exercise led to downgrading bin lorry drivers' roles and pay cuts, and Birmingham City Council plans to delete the waste recycling collection officer role, sparking ballots and strikes, with agency staff alleging bullying and overwork.
Some 275 people remain in dispute and Birmingham City Council declared a major incident, with contingency plans maintaining one collection a week amid extended strike action.
Union chiefs warned rubbish will continue rotting in Birmingham's streets for months as the dispute widens, with no doorstep recycling and green waste collections all year and bins possibly uncollected beyond next year's local elections in May, Unite the union said.
Footage obtained by Sky News showed a Job&Talent manager warning of alleged blacklisting, Birmingham City Council denied this after investigating, while Unite called agency staff joining pickets 'unprecedented' with no formal negotiations since the summer.

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Birmingham bin strikes set to continue well beyond May 2026

There’s been two massive developments in the long-running Birmingham bin strikes this week. First up, the workers have voted overwhelmingly to extend their strike action. This means that the industrial action could now continue well beyond the upcoming local elections in May 2026. And second, the agency workers who were brought in by Birmingham council in an attempt to circumvent the strikes are instead joining the pickets. The workers, employed…

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