The leader of Birmingham City Council has provided the latest update on negotiations to resolve the ongoing bin workers’ strike, amid concerns about potential future risks to the council.
Cllr Roger Harmer, head of the council’s Liberal Democrat leadership, confirmed earlier this month that a formal agreement could be reached by late September or early October. The strike, which began in January 2025 due to a dispute between the council and Unite the union, resulted in significant disruption across the city with rubbish accumulating on the streets during its peak.
Cllr Harmer recently expressed cautious optimism, noting positive progress between Unite and the council, now governed by a coalition including the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party. Speaking to BBC Radio WM, he explained: “The process we need to go through is to get a deal arranged and then that has to go through various checks. When that’s happened, we’ll take it to cabinet and when cabinet approve it and Unite get approval from their members for it, then we’ve got a deal.
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“The way the timeline looks, we are looking at going to cabinet in late September–early October with a proposal [that sides have agreed to].”
However, concerns remain from opposition members. At a recent full council meeting, Conservative group leader Cllr Robert Alden questioned the safety of any agreement, stressing the need to avoid repeating past mistakes that led to instability.
“So far no details [about the current possible deal] have been shared or released to the public,” he said. “Can the leader of the council commit to this council that any bin deal his cabinet agrees will not risk new equal pay or sex discrimination liabilities for this council and the taxpayers of our city?”
Responding, Cllr Harmer acknowledged public frustration at the length of the dispute and confirmed that a range of options would be presented to the council’s cabinet. Each would be thoroughly assessed by council officers and external auditors to ensure any solution is sustainable and avoids further complications.
“All those options need to be assessed by both the council’s officers and also for example, by the district auditor to make sure that whatever solution we finally go for is sustainable and does not cause further ongoing issues for this council,” he said. “We will obviously take close adherence to the advice offered by our section 151 officer and also by the district auditor.”
Cllr Alden had previously emphasised that any resolution must not place additional financial burdens on the city. “This council cannot afford to go around the merry-go-round for a third time of settling a bins strike in a way that just leads to another bins strike a few years down the line,” he stated. “I would urge whatever solution is found to the strike is one that actually finally draws under the line under this and is affordable for the city and taxpayers.”
Green Party deputy leader Cllr Julien Pritchard added that any deal reached will be “fair” and “above board”.
Discussing the negotiation process, Cllr Harmer noted the complexity involved. “Everybody involved in it is intensely frustrated with the time it’s taken to resolve this. We came into administration in June and in that first month we said to [council] officers go away, start negotiating with Unite.
“We agreed with Unite at that point we wouldn’t have a running commentary on [the negotiations] because both sides felt that calm and quietness would actually allow things to progress.”
The dispute originated over the proposed removal of the Waste Recycling and Collection Officer (WRCO) role. The previous Labour administration maintained that a fair offer had been made to workers, who argued they faced a pay cut of £8,000.