Birmingham council has announced it has reached the “absolute limit” of what it can offer to resolve a long-running pay dispute.
Members of Unite have been on all-out strike since early March, leading to rubbish piling up in the streets of the city.
Council leader John Cotton said in a statement on Wednesday: “Throughout this process the council has sought to be reasonable and flexible, but we have reached the absolute limit of what we can offer.
“It is well known that the council has an equal pay risk, we have been negotiating since before Christmas but have now run out of time.
“We have negotiated in good faith but unfortunately Unite has rejected all offers so we must now press ahead to both address our equal pay risk and make much needed improvements to the waste service. This is a service that has not been good enough for a long time and we must improve it.
Support the workers - send John Cotton a postcard and tell him to turn up to negotiations and table an offer that is genuinely 'fair and reasonable' ➡️ https://t.co/fr1RDzyZ0g
— Unite the union: join a union (@unitetheunion) July 4, 2025
“Unite’s demands would leave us with another equal pay bill of hundreds of millions of pounds, which is totally unacceptable, and would jeopardise the considerable progress we have made in our financial recovery.
“We must be fair to all our staff, and I will not repeat the mistakes of the past by making decisions that would ultimately result in further cuts to services and the sale of more council assets.
“Successive administrations have failed to close off the council’s equal pay liabilities, costing the people of Birmingham hundreds of millions of pounds and that must end now.
“We need to deliver a better waste service; creating an efficient, improved service is a crucial part of our need to become financially sustainable and is what the people of Birmingham need. We cannot delay this any longer.
“So, we will be communicating with our staff and trade unions as to next steps. Voluntary Redundancy remains on the table, as do opportunities for training and redeployment across the council.
“We have worked really hard to end this dispute and we apologise for all the disruption and appreciate residents’ patience. This is a service that needs to be improved into one that the residents of Birmingham deserve and I am committed to ensuring that happens.”
Acas spokesman Kevin Rowan said: “It’s unfortunate that this round of talks have concluded without resolution. Acas remains available to both parties should the situation change.”
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Let’s be very clear, what Birmingham City Council has proposed is fire and rehire in a Labour council under a Labour Government.
“Council leader John Cotton has never been in negotiations and Angela Rayner, who is responsible for the Government commissioners, is now complicit in the fire and rehire of these workers.
“Yet again workers are being asked to pay the price for the incompetence of this Labour council and Labour government.
“It is little wonder workers are deserting Labour in droves when they seem to be hell bent on attacking workers and leaving the super-rich totally untouched.
“This should not be happening under a Labour Government that promised a new deal for working people.
“It turns those promises into a complete joke.
“But let me be clear, the threats won’t work.
“Angela Rayner and John Cotton’s shambolic mismanagement of this dispute just makes it more likely that the strikes will continue into Christmas and beyond.”
