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Birmingham City Council reaches ‘new low’ after firing agency staff ‘for speaking to picketers’
Rows of overflowing bins in the Selly Oak area of Birmingham, amid an ongoing refuse workers' strike in the city, March 17, 2025

THE Birmingham bin strike escalated yesterday as Unite general secretary Sharon Graham accused the council of a “new low” for firing three agency workers after they spoke to picketing colleagues.

The union said that the three temporary workers were laughably told they were being dismissed “due to a lack of work” after they briefly spoke to striking colleagues on the picket line, before undertaking their collection rounds. 

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “This is a new low by council bosses — firing workers they know have no protection for merely speaking to striking colleagues.

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