Birmingham's bin strikes could continue past Christmas

Rubbish collection has become a hot topic in Birmingham (image from July 2025)

If you live in Birmingham in England, you might be familiar with the bin workers' strike that began in the city at the start of the year.

In Birmingham, the people who usually collect the bins agreed to stop working as a protest about changes to their job contracts, which they say are unfair.

Bin workers who are part of the Unite union in Birmingham have been on a full strike since March, after periods of strike action from January.

Now, a vote in the union could see them continuing the strike past Christmas, until March 2026, unless a deal is agreed.

A strike is when people who are a part of a union - a group that represents the interests of workers - agree to stop working to show that they are unhappy with the way they are being treated or paid.

The Birmingham bin strikes began after the local council decided to make changes to the pay and job roles of some workers.

There have been talks between the union, the council and the government since then, but so far this has failed to reach a deal to end the strikes.

A spokesperson for Birmingham City Council told the BBC: "The council sought to be reasonable and flexible throughout this process, but Unite rejected all our offers."

After most of their union members voted to continue the strike, Unite's leader Sharon Graham said: "There is no point at this stage negotiating further with the council as they do not have authority to resolve the dispute."