Unite fined £265,000 over Birmingham bin strike - but union boss shrugs off 'pathetic' ruling and claims 'every single penny' will come from cash it was previously going to give to Labour
Unite has shrugged off a £265,000 fine over the Birmingham bin strike and claimed it will pay the penalty from cash it was previously going to give to Labour.
Members of the trade union have staged year-long industrial action in Birmingham, leading to rubbish piling up on the streets of England's second city.
Labour-run Birmingham City Council brought action in May last year over Unite's breaches of a High Court injunction, which prohibits the blocking of rubbish collection vehicles.
Unite admitted the breaches - which included the blockading of vehicles at depot entrances and slow-walking next to vehicles - and apologised 'unreservedly' in court documents for a hearing in October.
In a decision on Tuesday, Mrs Justice Jefford fined the union £265,000 for the breaches, including picketing outside of defined areas.
But, responding to the fine, Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said she was 'very relaxed' about the financial penalty.
'Every single penny will come out of Labour's affiliation fee,' she added, having recently announced Unite will cut its funding of Keir Starmer's party by 40 per cent.
Ms Graham last week said Unite would reduce its affiliation to Labour by £580,000 amid anger at the party's handling of the Birmingham bin dispute.
Unite has shrugged off a £265,000 fine over the Birmingham bin strike and claimed it will pay the penalty from cash it was previously going to give to Labour
Members of the trade union have staged year-long industrial action in Birmingham, leading to rubbish piling up on the streets of England's second city
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said she was 'very relaxed' about the financial penalty
In a 21-page judgment on Tuesday, 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.
'It would make a nonsense of the order if, once the wagons had exited the depots, a few yards down the road their progress could be obstructed by protests outside the designated assembly areas.'
Mrs Justice Jefford added she accepted that Unite's apology was genuine, but 'was not offered until September 2025, some two months after the breaches had first occurred and the excuse for them was first offered'.
The judge also ordered the union to pay £170,000 in costs within 14 days as an interim payment.
Ms 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 £33million 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.
'So, Labour will be paying for this one and any others that come our way.'
Majid Mahmood, Birmingham City Council's 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 judgment 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.'
