Most bin workers earn slightly above minimum wage as council pumps agency profits

Birmingham council was wasting millions of pounds on expensive employment agencies prior to strike action, with the costs now expected to be even higher, Unite revealed today.  

A freedom of information (FOI) request by Unite shows that Birmingham council had 493 temporary workers on its books as of 31 December 2024 paying an average of £18.44 an hour per worker to the Job&Talent employment agency. This equates to £38,400 a year on a standard work schedule of 40 hours per week for 52 weeks.  

The council had 736 directly employed workers within its Fleet and Waste Operations Service on the same date - meaning temporary workers made up around 40 per cent of the waste workforce rather than the 20 per cent the council claims. Most of the directly employed workers are paid between £24,027 and £25,992 – just slightly more than the £23,795 workers on the minimum wage earn annually.  

Employing 493 temporary agencies workers full-time would cost the council approximately £18.9 million. The same number of directly employed workers with salaries of £25,000 a year equates to £12.3 million.

The disarray within Birmingham council’s refuse service is further exposed as the combined number of permanent and agency staff was revealed to be 1,229. This is 237 workers over the 992 posts in the council’s refuse service. The additional spending on hundreds of extra agency staff is occurring at a time when the council is effectively bankrupt, run by government appointed commissioners and making huge cuts, while also steeply increasing council tax bills.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Birmingham council has been wasting millions upon millions boosting agency profits. That makes the pay attacks on its directly employed refuse workforce even more disgraceful. It would be cheaper and fairer to cut out the middleman, employ long serving agency staff directly and halt the brutal wage cuts. 

"Instead, the council has decided to waste even more money by using Job&Talent to provide unlawful labour to undermine the strikes. This is a collision course to failure - our members won't break and Unite's is backing them all the way."

Agency costs for the council are now likely much higher, as Unite has evidence that the council and Job&Talent are unlawfully using agency labour to try and break the strike (sees notes to editors).
 
According to the council’s FOI response, the longest serving agency worker began working for the council’s refuse service on 7 November 2011 – 13 years ago. Many other agency workers have worked for the council for a decade or more.

The workers began strike action in January over the scrapping of the waste collection and recycling officer role, which has impacted 150 workers with pay cuts of up to £8,000.

Removing the role also effects the rest of the low paid workforce by leaving them without a fair path for pay progression even after years of service in a demanding, dirty and difficult job.  

The workers already voluntarily accepted cuts to pay and terms and conditions to assist the council after it declared bankruptcy – including giving up £1,000 in shift pay. They now believe that further attacks to jobs and wages will follow.

The attacks on the refuse workforce, who will begin taking all out indefinite strike action from Tuesday 11 March, are being led by Birmingham’s commissioners. The commissioners were handed control of the council by the previous government and are overseeing massively damaging budget reductions across the city.

Unite national officer Onay Kasab said: “The commissioners have no place in Birmingham. Unelected means unaccountable and uncaring. It is time for the Labour government to remove the commissioners. It is time for an end to cutting jobs, services and pay while pouring money meant for the public sector into the coffers of agencies.”

ENDS

Notes to editors:

The workers are being balloted to extend strike action through the spring and summer over the council’s use of temporary labour to undermine the industrial action.

Unite has warned Birmingham council and its employment agency Job&Talent that it is unlawful to provide labour to replace striking workers. The union is calling on Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate, which is part of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, to take action and stamp out illegality.

The new industrial action ballot closes on 10 March. The ballot would extend their 
industrial action mandate into the summer months.

For media enquires ONLY contact senior Unite communications officer Ryan Fletcher on 07849 090215 or 020 3371 2065.

Email: ryan.fletcher@unitetheunion.org

Unite is Britain and Ireland’s largest union with members working across all sectors of the economy. The general secretary is Sharon Graham.