Birmingham City Council has applied for a High Court injunction to prevent protestors from blocking its waste depots, escalating a long-running dispute with striking bin workers.
The application, filed on 3rd February against ‘persons unknown’, aims to stop any activity that blocks vehicles or access to four key depots for six months.
If approved, the injunction would also ban the blocking of any council waste vehicle across the city. Breaking the injunction could result in up to two years in prison, fines or asset seizure.
Council officials say the move responds to repeated blockades at depots since September 2025, but stress it does not target lawful protests that do not obstruct services.
Up to 350 Unite members began striking in January 2025 over pay and job cuts, which lead to a full walkout in March 2025. As a result, recycling collections have mostly stopped for over a year, forcing residents to dispose of waste themselves.
The council has relied on agency workers, costing an estimated £38,000 per year per worker, but picket lines have continued to delay trucks.
Tensions have risen in the dispute, with large ‘Megapicket’ protests organised by campaign group Strike Map and supported by national unions. The council says it will introduce a new waste collection system this summer regardless of the strike, while Unite says industrial action will continue until workers secure a ‘fair deal’.
A hearing for the injunction is scheduled for 13th February. The court’s ruling could reshape one of the UK’s longest-running local industrial disputes.
Strike Map co-founder Henry Fowler said: ‘This is an act of pure cowardice by Birmingham City Council, backed by their unelected commissioners. The council’s continued escalation of this dispute has already cost taxpayers £34 million. Seeking this sweeping injunction shows they are more interested in wasting public money and hiding behind the courts than in resolving the strike.
‘This council’s contempt for its own workforce and the people of Birmingham could not be clearer. With elections coming this May, Labour councillors should start thinking about new jobs. We and our supporters will not end our solidarity with Birmingham’s bin workers. You cannot ban solidarity.’
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