Talks to try to end the Birmingham bin strike that has seen piles of black rubbish bags fill the pavements of the city will resume today.
Mounds of waste remain uncollected, while residents have started to take matters into their own hands.
Birmingham City Council declared a major incident on 31 March, saying the “regrettable” move was taken in response to public health concerns, as picket lines were blocking depots and preventing waste vehicles from collecting rubbish.
The all-out strike started on 11 March, but waste collections have been disrupted since January.
Here is everything you need to know.
Image: From 20 April. Pic: PA
How long have workers been striking?
More than 350 workers of the Unite union began a series of walkouts in January and decided to escalate into indefinite strike action on 11 March, citing fear over further attacks on their jobs, pay and conditions.
The union has said that the removal of the role of waste recycling and collection officer (WRCO) role will leave about 150 workers £8,000 worse off – as the number of workers working on bin lorries will be reduced from four to three.
Image: From 1 April: Workers on the picket line outside Birmingham waste depot
The council said it scrapped the WRCO role to put the city’s waste operations in line with national practice and to improve its waste collection service.
It said all workers have been offered alternative employment at the same pay, driver training or voluntary redundancy and that offer remains open.
Three military planners are understood to have been assigned to the city to provide logistical support to Birmingham’s council for a short period of time.
What are the impacts?
Normally, the city’s waste teams would make more than half a million collections in a week with 200 vehicles deployed over eight-hour daily shifts.
This has been reduced to just over 26,000 since the start of April, according to the latest council figures.
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1:16
From 14 April: Bin strikes clean-up could cost over £200m
The cost of the ongoing clean-up could cause even more damage to the council, which effectively declared bankruptcy in 2023. One waste management agency told Sky News that totally clearing the backlog could cost more than £200m.
The strike has become one of the longest the UK has seen in recent years.
Back in 1978-79, the winter of discontent led to rubbish piling up on the streets of London, as the waste collection industry joined other trade unions in demanding larger pay rises in response to government caps.
More recently, more than 200 bin workers in the Wirral went on a week-long strike in 2022, eventually securing a 15% pay rise. In the same year, a similar dispute over pay saw rubbish pile up in Edinburgh during the city’s busy festival season.
Image: Overflowing bins on a street in Birmingham on 20 April
Image: Pic: PA
Why is it taking so long to settle the dispute?
Unite, the union representing striking workers, and the city council have failed to reach an agreement since the strike began in March, with Unite holding firm on the strike action despite pressure from the government.
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3:18
Bin workers reject council offer
Members rejected the council’s latest offer on 14 April by 97% on 60% turnout, saying it was “totally inadequate” and did not address potential pay cuts for 200 drivers.
The union’s general secretary Sharon Graham said the rejection was “no surprise” as “workers simply cannot afford to take pay cuts of this magnitude to pay the price for bad decision after bad decision”.
Meanwhile, the government and council said it was a “significantly improved” offer.
Image: Tyseley Lane on 10 April
Responding to an urgent question in the House of Commons on 22 April, communities minister Jim McMahon said “significant progress” had been made in dealing with the remaining tonnes of rubbish.
He said through “a concerted effort” and with the assistance of other councils, private operators and workers, 26,000 tonnes of excess waste had been removed, and the levels were “approaching normal”.
Council leader John Cotton told Sky News’ Midlands correspondent Lisa Dowdon 16 April that it “pains” him to see pictures of mounds of rubbish and rats feeding off the mess being broadcast around the world.
He said the only way for the normal waste collection schedule to resume was for the strike to end – but added the cash-strapped council has “red lines” that it will not cross during negotiations.
Deputy prime minister Angela Rayner visited the city on 10 April and urged the union to end the “misery and disruption” by accepting a pay deal.
Image: Angela Rayner ‘urged’ the union to accept the council’s deal
How have residents been affected?
Mounting rubbish has led to residents complaining of a risk to public health, with rotting food attracting foxes, cockroaches and rats.
Rashid Campbell, a local resident who is part of a volunteer litter-picking team from the Birmingham Central Mosque, told Sky’s Shamaan Freeman-Powell that 12 members of his team collected 24 bags of rubbish from two Birmingham streets on Easter Sunday.
“If we don’t [litter-pick], we’re just going to be drowning in rubbish,” he said.
Latifat Abdul Majed Isah said even in some places where bins have been taken away, the street remained “dirty, unpalatable and unpleasant to see”.
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2:28
Volunteers take action amid bin strikes
Joseph McHale, a rat-catcher from Vergo Pest Management, told Sky News at the beginning of April that discarded bin bags provide vermin with “somewhere to hide, somewhere to feed, somewhere to stay warm”.
He said his business had seen a 60% increase in people from Birmingham calling them for help.
By declaring a major incident, the council was able to free up an additional 35 vehicles and crews to clear rubbish and fly-tipping from the streets.
The limited number of waste trucks are deployed each morning from three depots across the city and cover multiple different routes.
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1:49
Examining Birmingham’s ‘rat super highway’
Residents are also able to dispose of household general waste and bulky items at the council’s mobile household waste centres, without prebooking.
To recycle household items, locals are required to book a slot at one of the council’s household recycling centres.
Could it spread to other areas?
The union’s general secretary has warned the strikes could “absolutely” spread to other areas.
“If other councils decide to make low-paid workers pay for bad decisions that they did not make, workers paying the price yet again, then absolutely, of course, we all have to take action in those other areas,” Sharon Graham told LBC.
The union’s national lead officer Onay Kasab agreed, telling BBC Four: “Well, if other local authorities look to cut the pay of essential public service workers, then there is the potential for strike action spreading.
“That’s why different political choices need to be made.”
Ms Graham also criticised the government, saying it had taken them “a huge amount of time to get involved in the dispute”.
The first thing you notice when immigration officers stop a possible illegal moped delivery driver is the speed in which the suspect quickly taps on their mobile.
“We’re in their WhatsApp groups – they’ll be telling thousands now that we’re here… so our cover is blown,” the lead immigration officer tells me.
“It’s like a constant game of cat and mouse.”
Twelve Immigration Enforcement officers, part of the Home Office, are joining colleagues from Avon and Somerset Police in a crackdown on road offences and migrants working illegally.
The West of England and Wales has seen the highest number of arrests over the last year for illegal workers outside of London.
“It is a problem… we’re tackling it,” Murad Mohammed, from Immigration Enforcement, says. He covers all the devolved nations.
“This is just one of the operations going on around the country, every day of the week, every month of the year.”
Image: Murad Mohammed, from Immigration Enforcement, says his team are attempting to tackle the issue
Just outside the Cabot Circus shopping complex, we stop a young Albanian man who arrived in the UK on the back of a truck.
He’s on an expensive and fast-looking e-bike, with a new-looking Just Eat delivery bag.
He says he just uses it for “groceries” – but the officer isn’t buying it. He’s arrested, but then bailed instantly.
We don’t know the specifics of his case, but one officer tells me this suspected offence won’t count against his asylum claim.
Such is the scale of the problem – the backlog, loopholes and the complexity of cases – that trying to keep on top of it feels impossible.
This is one of many raids happening across the UK as part of what the government says is a “blitz” targeting illegal working hotspots.
Angela Eagle, the border security and asylum minister, joins the team for an hour at one of Bristol’sretail parks, scattered with fast food chains and, therefore, delivery bikes.
Image: Border security and asylum minister, Angela Eagle, speaks to Sky News
She says arrests for illegal working are up over the last year by 51% from the year before, to more than 7,000.
“If we find you working, you can lose access to the hotel or the support you have [been] given under false pretences,” she said.
“We are cracking down on that abuse, and we intend to keep doing so.”
There are reports that asylum seekers can rent legitimate delivery-driver accounts within hours of arriving in the country – skipping employment legality checks.
Uber Eats, Deliveroo, and Just Eat all told Sky News they’re continuing to strengthen the technology they use to remove anyone working illegally.
But a new Border Security Bill, working its way through Parliament, could see companies fined £60,000 for each illegal worker discovered, director disqualifications and potential prison sentences of up to five years.
“I had them all in to see me last week and I told them in no uncertain terms that we take a very tough line on this kind of abuse and they’ve got to change their systems so they can drive it out and off their platforms,” the minister tells me.
For some of those who arrive, a bike and a phone provide a way to repay debts to gang masters.
There were eight arrests today in Bristol, one or two taken into custody, but it was 12 hours of hard work by a dozen immigration officers and the support of the police.
As two mopeds are pushed onto a low-loader, you can’t help but feel, despite the best intentions, that at the moment, this is a losing battle.
We see the boat from a distance – the orange of the life jackets reflected in the rising sun.
And as we draw closer, we can make out dozens of people crowded on board as it sets off from the shore, from a beach near Dunkirk.
There is no sign of any police activity on the shore, and there are no police vessels in the water.
Instead, the migrants crammed into an inflatable dinghy are being watched by us, on board a private boat, and the looming figure of the Minck, a French search and rescue ship that soon arrives.
Image: Minck, a French search and rescue ship, shadows the boat
The dinghy meanders. It’s not heading towards Britain but rather hugging the coast.
A few of the passengers wave at us cheerfully, but then the boat starts to head back towards the shore.
Image: Sky’s Adam Parsons at the scene
As it nears a different beach, we see a police vehicle – a dune buggy – heading down to meet it.
Normal practice is for French police officers to slice through the material of any of these small boats that end up back on shore.
Two police officers get out of the buggy and wait. A police helicopter arrives and circles above, performing a tight circle over the heads of the migrants.
The police think they might be about to go back on to the beach; in fact, these passengers know that most of them are staying put.
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The boat stops a short distance from the shore and four people jump out. As they wade towards the beach, the boat turns and starts to head back out to sea.
We see the two police officers approach these four men and have a brief conversation.
They don’t appear to check the bags they are carrying and, if they do question them about why they left the boat, it is the most cursory of conversations.
In reality, these people probably don’t speak French but they were almost certainly involved in arranging this crossing, which is against the law. But all four walk away, disappearing into the dunes at the back of the beach.
The first thing you notice when immigration officers stop a possible illegal moped delivery driver is the speed in which the suspect quickly taps on their mobile.
“We’re in their WhatsApp groups – they’ll be telling thousands now that we’re here… so our cover is blown,” the lead immigration officer tells me.
“It’s like a constant game of cat and mouse.”
Twelve Immigration Enforcement officers, part of the Home Office, are joining colleagues from Avon and Somerset Police in a crackdown on road offences and migrants working illegally.
The West of England and Wales has seen the highest number of arrests over the last year for illegal workers outside of London.
“It is a problem… we’re tackling it,” Murad Mohammed, from Immigration Enforcement, says. He covers all the devolved nations.
“This is just one of the operations going on around the country, every day of the week, every month of the year.”
Image: Murad Mohammed, from Immigration Enforcement, says his team are attempting to tackle the issue
Just outside the Cabot Circus shopping complex, we stop a young Albanian man who arrived in the UK on the back of a truck.
He’s on an expensive and fast-looking e-bike, with a new-looking Just Eat delivery bag.
He says he just uses it for “groceries” – but the officer isn’t buying it. He’s arrested, but then bailed instantly.
We don’t know the specifics of his case, but one officer tells me this suspected offence won’t count against his asylum claim.
Such is the scale of the problem – the backlog, loopholes and the complexity of cases – that trying to keep on top of it feels impossible.
This is one of many raids happening across the UK as part of what the government says is a “blitz” targeting illegal working hotspots.
Angela Eagle, the border security and asylum minister, joins the team for an hour at one of Bristol’sretail parks, scattered with fast food chains and, therefore, delivery bikes.
Image: Border security and asylum minister, Angela Eagle, speaks to Sky News
She says arrests for illegal working are up over the last year by 51% from the year before, to more than 7,000.
“If we find you working, you can lose access to the hotel or the support you have [been] given under false pretences,” she said.
“We are cracking down on that abuse, and we intend to keep doing so.”
There are reports that asylum seekers can rent legitimate delivery-driver accounts within hours of arriving in the country – skipping employment legality checks.
Uber Eats, Deliveroo, and Just Eat all told Sky News they’re continuing to strengthen the technology they use to remove anyone working illegally.
But a new Border Security Bill, working its way through Parliament, could see companies fined £60,000 for each illegal worker discovered, director disqualifications and potential prison sentences of up to five years.
“I had them all in to see me last week and I told them in no uncertain terms that we take a very tough line on this kind of abuse and they’ve got to change their systems so they can drive it out and off their platforms,” the minister tells me.
For some of those who arrive, a bike and a phone provide a way to repay debts to gang masters.
There were eight arrests today in Bristol, one or two taken into custody, but it was 12 hours of hard work by a dozen immigration officers and the support of the police.
As two mopeds are pushed onto a low-loader, you can’t help but feel, despite the best intentions, that at the moment, this is a losing battle.