BIRMINGHAM’S bin workers remained defiant as they marked a year of strikes today.

Labour’s failure to settle has cost the taxpayer £18 million and is set to see Europe’s largest authority fall to the far right, Unite warned.

Union members began a series of one-day strikes on January 6 2025 over plans to downgrade some job roles, leaving up to 170 workers facing an £8,000-a-year pay cut.

Uncollected waste has piled in the streets after they started an indefinite all-out strike on March 11.

There have been no recycling collections since February, with residents left to either hoard it, dispose of it with their household rubbish or make trips to the tip.

Unite national lead officer Onay Kasab said: “As we reach the one-year anniversary of the bin strikes, it is important to remember what this dispute is about.

“Birmingham council has undertaken a devastating fire-and-rehire attack of up to £8,000 on bin lorry drivers and loaders. For some, this is a quarter of their pay and puts them at risk of losing their homes.

“In an unprecedented development, agency workers covering the strikes have now also gone on strike themselves. This is due to unsustainable workloads and bullying, harassment and the threat of blacklisting.”

Today Labour-run Birmingham City Council said it would be going ahead with a new waste collection regime in the summer, even if industrial action continued.

But the union vowed there would be no end to the strikes until there was a fair deal for Birmingham’s bin workers.

“Birmingham’s bin workers are not asking for pay rises — all they want is to be treated fairly. Instead, the council refuses to even enter talks and makes unevidenced claims that a deal would open up equal pay liabilities — claims Unite’s own expert legal advice contradicts,” said Mr Kasab.

“It also denies that agency workers are being treated appallingly, despite the glaring evidence.

“Our members’ resolve remains rock solid in the face of the council’s attempts to scapegoat and punish them for the mess politicians have made in Birmingham. There will be no end to the strikes until there is a fair deal for Birmingham’s bin workers.”

Unite rep Mike Masters told the Morning Star that his union’s analysis showed the strikes are on course to cost the taxpayer £18m so far.

The 56-year-old, who became a union rep shortly before the strikes began, added: “A year on, it’s been hard.

“To be honest, it’s a bit surreal we didn’t think we’d be out this long. 

“Normally with most things the better you go at it, the easier it gets.

“This is different — the longer, the harder it gets.

“But you know you’ve got to do it because you’re in a situation where you’ve gone that far it becomes second nature, that’s why we’re still fighting.”

He warned Labour that Reform UK was the “other choice” in the local elections in May.

“100 per cent it will cost Labour the local election,” he said.

“I spoke to a Labour MP and said you do realise because of this you’re so behind on the polls.

“All it needs is some Labour MP have a look at this and think I want to save it.

“I think they would be looked at in a totally different light.”

But he added that unlike the Greens or Conservatives, Reform UK had made no contact with his members.

“I wouldn’t like to think they would get into power in Birmingham,” he said.

“Personally… I’m a working-class man. I vote for Labour, my family has voted for Labour. I don’t want that.

“This is a Labour problem, and it should Labour to put it right.”

Birmingham City Council’s cabinet member for environment and transport Majid Mahmood said: “We are now forging ahead with the transformation of the waste service, a service that has been poor for too long.

“The council has engaged in negotiations with Unite for the past 12 months. Whilst we remain committed to reaching a negotiated settlement, Unite has rejected our fair and reasonable offers.”