Unite general secretary Sharon Graham will join striking Birmingham bin workers during a rally on Thursday morning.
When: 09:00 hrs, Thursday 19 March 2026
Where: Atlas Depot, 170-172 Kings Road, Tyseley, Birmingham, B11 2AS
Bin workers are striking because Birmingham city council has cut their pay by up to £8,000.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Our members taking industrial action have Unite’s unwavering support.
“The council should now honour the deal scoped out at Acas and stop wasting millions of pounds of residents’ money on failed attempts to break the strike.
“Workers and communities should not be paying the price for the clear failings of the council’s management.”
Last week on the anniversary of the all-out strike beginning, Unite’s executive council voted to cut its affiliation fee to Labour by 40 per cent (£580,000) with the defining issue being the manner in which both the
Labour council and Labour government, have treated the workers and acted in the dispute.
Since the beginning of the industrial dispute the council has spent at least £33 million of council taxpayers’ money on unsuccessfully trying to break the strike.
In an unprecedented development Job & Talent agency refuse workers joined the dispute at the end of last year. They are striking over bullying, harassment and the threat of blacklisting at the council’s refuse department.
Government commissioners blocked a “ballpark deal” agreed by council chief executive Joanne Roney at ACAS in May. Unite remains fully open to return to those negotiations in order to resolve the dispute.