Unite fined £265k for 'slow walk' bin strike protests

Unite has been fined £265k for breaching an injunction during Birmingham's bin strike by "slow walking" in front of waste lorries near depots.

The council applied for contempt of court proceedings in July, citing persistent breaches including vehicles being blockaded, union members stepping in front of moving heavy vehicles and roads being blocked.

The full judgement, handed down on Monday, sets out in detail how the blocking of lorries by "slow walking" workers helped lead to a build up of rubbish and the declaration of a major incident in March last year.

The fine is essentially a punishment payable to the government, because contempt of court is treated as an offence against the courts.

The judgement explained how 22,000 tonnes of uncollected waste piled up across the city at the beginning of the strike, due to agency staff and non-striking employees being unable to drive trucks out of the Atlas, Lifford Lane and Perry Barr depots.

Despite an injunction being granted later that year, union members continued obstructing waste vehicles on roads about 500 metres to 1km away from the depots, the judgement continued.

Unite argued it genuinely believed the injunction only applied to protests in the immediate vicinity of the depots, not further along collection routes.

But the judge rejected that, finding the union's culpability was high and that it had "persuaded themselves of their own spurious argument".

The union must also make an interim payment of £170k towards Birmingham City Council's legal costs.

Majid Mahmood, the council's cabinet member for environment and transport, said: "This judgement confirms that Unite has tried to prevent us from collecting our residents' bins and to fill the city up with rubbish.

"We always acknowledged that everyone has the right to protest and that Unite has the right to organise picketing in line with their statutory rights.

"However, people also have a right to work."

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham called the fine a "pathetic attempt to intimidate workers".

"Unite will not allow these workers to pay the price for the council's failings in their pay packets," she said.

"Rather than resolving the dispute, Birmingham city council's own figures have confirmed they have spent £33m of Birmingham residents' money trying to break the strike. It won't be broken - these workers are fighting for council workers everywhere."

Graham also said "every single penny will come out of Labour's affiliation fee", after the union last week said it would reduce the amount it pays to the UK's governing party because of its stance on the bin strike.

Workers have been on strike since January last year, with all-out action ongoing since March 2025.

The council said it needs to transform the service and has tabled multiple fair and reasonable offers, but the union said workers' pay will be cut by up to £8,000.

Both striking council workers and some agency workers employed by Job & Talent have recently voted to extend their industrial action mandate past May's local elections and into September.

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