Unite the Union to pay £435,000 as High Court rules illegal picketing during Birmingham bin strikes

Unite the Union has to pay £435,000 in fines and costs after a High Court ruling found they "illegally picketed" during the Birmingham bin strikes.

The judgement made on Tuesday, 17 March, found that Unite should be fined for breaching an injunction relating to strike action.

Unite has been ordered to pay £265,000 in fines to the Government and also £170,000 in costs to the claimant, Birmingham City Council.

Birmingham City Council sought the injunction to halt protests outside of its depots amid ongoing demonstrations in support of striking bin workers.

Upon receiving the fine, Unite has vowed that it will not allow Birmingham bin workers "to pay the price for the council's failings".

Birmingham City Council were pleased with the outcome. It said: "We are working to keep the city safe and clean.

"This judgement confirms that Unite has tried to prevent us from collecting our residents' bins and to fill the city up with rubbish."

Bin workers have been striking since January 2025 and members of Unite started a continuous walkout on March 11, last year in a dispute over pay, with little sign of a breakthrough in the deadlocked row.

The union says planned reforms of the refuse collection service will lead to hundreds of its members losing thousands of pounds.

However, the council denies the claim and is pressing ahead with changes it says are needed to improve the service.

High Court ruling finds Unite "deliberately" breached injunction

The High Court Judge, Mrs Justice Jefford DBE, found that Unite deliberately breached an injunction that was issued on May 23, 2025.

It followed a number of protests earlier in 2025, which prevented the deployment of any bin-collecting vehicles from any of Birmingham's three depots, Atlas, Lifford Lane and Perry Barr.

As part of the injunction, there could be no more than six pickets at any depot entrance. Pickets were also ordered to "refrain from seeking to prevent any vehicle from passing through the site entrance to each of the Depots".

The injunction was found to be breached on every weekday between July 8, 2025 and July 21, 2025.

Evidence was also put forward to the High Court from Birmingham City Council that further breaches took place between 22 and 30 July, 2025. The court says this was not challenged by Unite.

During the hearing, Annmarie Kilcline, the Unite Regional Secretary for the West Midlands, accepted Unite had breached the court's order. However Unite said it had thought that the injunction did not "prohibit protesting a little way away" from the depot.

Ms Kilcline also said there had been no breaches since 31 July, 2025, and she assured the court that Unite would comply with the injunction going forward.

However in the 21-page judgment, Mrs Justice Jefford said: “I cannot accept that when Unite offered an assurance that protesting would be limited to the assembly areas, anyone giving instructions for that assurance to be offered would have intended that the protests could just be moved a few hundred metres away from the depots so that the vehicles that had left the depots could then be obstructed and delayed at a different point in their route."

Unite has denied there has been abuse and intimidation carried out during the pickets.

Unite calls the ruling "another pathetic attempt to intimidate workers"

Following the High Court ruling, Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “This is yet another pathetic attempt to intimidate workers and it won’t work.

“Unite will not allow these workers to pay the price for the council’s failings in their pay packets.

“Instead of using Thatcher’s anti-union laws to 'injunct' the picket line and stop lawful protest, the council should honour the deal scoped out at Acas.

"They walked out of the room, said they would be back with the deal in writing, and never returned.

“Rather than resolving the dispute, Birmingham City Council’s own figures have confirmed they have spent £33 million pounds of Birmingham residents’ money trying to break the strike. It won’t be broken - these workers are fighting for council workers everywhere.

“Unite is very relaxed about the fine, every single penny will come out of Labour’s affiliation fee."

Birmingham City Council insists "going to court was not something we wanted to do"

Cllr Majid Mahmood, Cabinet Member for Environment and Transport, said: "We are pleased the judge has accepted the evidence that members of Unite the Union repeatedly breached the injunction ordered by the court last year.

"We are working to keep the city safe and clean. This judgement confirms that Unite has tried to prevent us from collecting our residents' bins and to fill the city up with rubbish.

"The fine of £265,000 (plus £170,000 interim payment in relation to Birmingham City Council's legal costs) was issued by the judge – will send a clear message about what is acceptable behaviour and what is not.

"Going to court was not something we wanted to do but were left with no option. 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.

"What is not acceptable is for pickets to obstruct vehicles and prevent people from doing so. This was confirmed when the interim injunction was issued and that injunction remains in place today.

"We will continue to use all legal means to protect our staff and residents and maintain essential services, in the face of determined attempts at disruption."

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