Birmingham bin strike to continue after refuse workers reject council’s offer
A long-running strike by bin workers, that has left rubbish piling up on Birmingham’s streets, will continue after union members “overwhelmingly rejected” the city council’s offer in a fresh ballot.
The action by members of Unite, which began on 11 March as part of a dispute over pay, has seen thousands of tonnes of rubbish go uncollected and warnings of a public health emergency.
Hundreds of workers have been on all-out strike for a month, and residents have complained about “rats as big as cats”.
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner visited Birmingham last week and called on the union to accept a “significantly improved” deal for workers.
Pic: Reuters
However, the union said hundreds of its members had rejected the “totally inadequate” offer.
The offer, if it had been accepted, would have included “substantial pay cuts for workers” and “did not address potential pay cuts for 200 drivers”, according to Unite.
The latest ballot comes after previous talks failed.
Unite has been campaigning against plans to cut the post of waste recycling and collection officer (WRCO) from the city’s refuse and recycling service.
The union claims it will lead to around 150 of its members having their pay cut by up to £8,000 a year.
But the council has disputed the figures, saying only 17 workers will be affected, losing far less than Unite is claiming.
Local government minister Jim McMahon said the union’s rejection of the pay offer will be “deeply disappointing for Birmingham residents who have already endured weeks of disruption”.
“There is a fair and reasonable offer on the table and I would urge Unite to end the strikes and return to talks to reach the resolution that is fair to the workers and residents of the city,” he added.
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‘The bin strike has been good for us’
‘Rejection of the offer is no surprise’
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “The rejection of the offer is no surprise as these workers simply cannot afford to take pay cuts of this magnitude to pay the price for bad decision after bad decision.”
Unite national lead Onay Kasab told Sky News: “The proposal from the employers was completely and utterly inadequate. It still included a pay cut. It included a sharp cliff-edge drop in pay for our members.
“Unfortunately, the biggest thing about the proposal was what it didn’t include. It didn’t include the details of how and when the drivers are going to have their pay cut and what’s going to be done to mitigate that. It didn’t include issues around what happens if people finish their training and there are no vacancies for them.
“But what it did show up was this so-called figure of only 17 people being impacted is complete and utter nonsense. The proposal itself, that we’ve got in paper, impacts more than 17 people.”
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Wendy Morton, a Conservative MP whose Aldridge-Brownhills constituency is in the Walsall borough, said rats in Birmingham – labelled Squeaky Blinders – “must be dancing in the streets”.
She said: “This really shows yet again Labour-led Birmingham Council and this Labour government are failing residents and our region.
“They need to get a grip, stop blaming others, and face the unions – their paymasters. The Squeaky Blinders must be dancing in the streets.”
Rats have been seen scurrying around mounting piles of rubbish, food waste and bin bags outside homes, shops and restaurants in the city since the strike began.
‘It has been really bad’
A Birmingham resident whose car was wrecked by rats in a street where piles of rubbish were “as tall as” him is “disappointed” bin workers have rejected the council’s offer.
Adam Yasin, 33, from the Balsall Heath area of the city, said: “It’s more to do with hygiene on the streets. I take my son to the nursery and I use a specific street and honestly it was blocked. It’s just annoying, and when the kids are there they like to touch things as well.”
He said his Mercedes was “completely written off” just weeks ago because rats had chewed through wires in the engine.
He said: “It has been really bad, especially where I live, there are a lot of restaurants there. I swear there was a pile (of rubbish) as tall as me, I kid you not.
“Today they collected the rubbish that was on the floor, so the bags that were on the floor, but the bins are still left.”
Read more:
Hunting the rats running riot
Pest controllers ‘feel like fourth emergency service’
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Rayner urges Unite to suspend bin strikes
What has the council said?
Birmingham City Council said: “It is incredibly disappointing, that despite several weeks of extensive negotiations, Unite have rejected a second offer of settlement. However, our door remains open.
“The council must deliver improved waste services for our citizens – who simply deserve better.
“We must also guard against future equal pay claims, and while we have sought throughout the negotiations to protect pay for individuals, Unite’s proposals focus solely on retaining a role that does not exist in other councils and represents an equal pay risk for Birmingham.
“We have made a fair and reasonable offer and every employee affected by the removal of the WRCO role could take an equivalent graded role in the council, LGV Driver training or voluntary redundancy packages.”
It comes as the government called in military planners to help tackle the mounting piles of rubbish in Birmingham.
Amid an “ongoing public health risk” posed by the mounds of waste, the planners have been assigned to provide logistical support for a short period. The move has not involved soldiers being deployed to collect rubbish.
‘Army logistics deployed’
Ms Rayner insisted there were “no boots on the ground”.
She said “we’ve deployed a couple of army logistics to help with the logistical operation of clearing up the rubbish”.
“We’ve got over two-thirds of the rubbish cleared off the streets now, this week we’ll start to see cleaning up the pavements and streets as well as the clearance of all of that rubbish, I’m very pleased about that. The kids are off school, obviously it’s Easter holidays, we want that rubbish cleared.”
Waste collections have been disrupted since January, before the all-out strike started last month.
Birmingham City Council declared a major incident on 31 March in response to public health concerns.
All flights were halted at Edinburgh Airport this morning due to an IT issue affecting its air traffic control provider.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, the airport later announced service had resumed.
Its post read: “Flights have now resumed following the IT issue with our air traffic provider.
“We thank passengers for their patience and understanding.”
But passengers continue to feel the effects.
A Delta Air Lines flight from New York to Edinburgh was diverted to Dublin after going into a holding pattern over the Scottish capital.
And a live arrivals board on the airport’s website showed multiple flights diverted, delayed and cancelled.
Arrivals board at Edinburgh Airport. Pic: Edinburgh Airport
Morven McCall and Cody Stevenson, both 19, were due to fly easyJet from Edinburgh to Amsterdam on their first trip away together.
Morven told Sky News: “We literally just got into the airport and as soon as we walked through the door there was an announcement that it had been cancelled.
“I was ill over the summer and had to cancel two holidays already, this was our first time going away together. We are just gutted and stressed.”
Follow live: Latest updates as flights halted
Arrivals at Edinburgh Airport. File pic: PA
One passenger was on a plane when they found out.
They said: “We boarded our flight and pushed back on time for an 8.45 (am) departure, then sat for a while before the pilot told us what was happening.
“He updated us a couple of times, cabin crew are brilliant at handing out water etc, and I’m surprised that everyone appears to be upbeat. But then you do wonder how long for, just been told we’re hoping to be in the air in 20 minutes.”
Another passenger told us: “The first news was from the airport announcement as we were halfway through boarding, saying the airfield was closed due to air traffic control down.
“No one knew what was going on. We’d already been delayed a bit before boarding, with no reason. I suspect problems started about 9am.”
It comes after an earlier announcement that all flights had been halted.
“No flights are currently operating from Edinburgh Airport,” the previous statement said.
“Teams are working on the issue and will resolve as soon as possible.”
There was no timeframe for recovery initially, Sky News learned.
It’s understood by PA that the issue was not linked to today’s Cloudflare outage.
Edinburgh Trams also posted on X, writing: “If you’re travelling with us to @EDI_Airport this morning, please be aware that flights are not currently operating.”
The airport urged passengers to contact their airline for the latest information on flights.
An average of 43,000 passengers per day use the airport, which is served by 37 airlines flying to 155 destinations.
A former doctor has been charged over alleged sexual assaults on 38 patients in his care.
Nathaniel Spencer, 38, has been charged with 15 counts of sexual assault, 17 counts of assault by penetration, nine counts of sexual assault of a child under 13, three counts of assault a child under 13 by penetration and one count of attempted assault by penetration.
It follows a police investigation into alleged sexual offences between 2017 and 2021.
Staffordshire Police said in a statement the charges come after a complex investigation by the Public Protection Unit into sexual offences at the Royal Stoke University Hospital, in Stoke-on-Trent, and Russells Hall Hospital, in Dudley.
North Staffordshire Justice Centre
Ben Samples, deputy chief crown prosecutor for the West Midlands CPS Complex Casework Unit and Serious Violence, Organised Crime and Exploitation Unit, said: “We have decided to prosecute Nathaniel Spencer for a number of serious sexual offences allegedly carried out against patients while he was working as a doctor – including assault by penetration and sexual assault against a child.
“Our prosecutors have worked at length to support a detailed and complex investigation by Staffordshire Police, carefully reviewing the available evidence to establish that there is sufficient evidence to bring the case to trial and that it is in the public interest to pursue criminal proceedings.”
Spencer, from Birmingham, will appear at North Staffordshire Justice Centre on 20 January 2026.
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