The mega picket in Birmingham in May put the strike back on the front foot—and it’s crucial momentum is rebuilt in Sheffield
By Arthur Townend
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Tuesday 01 July 2025
On the Birmingham mega picket on 9 May (Photo: Guy Smallman)
Refuse workers at Lumley Street in Sheffield are in their eleventh month of an indefinite strike for union recognition.
Workers are battling their employer, Veolia, to recognise their chosen union, Unite. They have fought back against a host of strike breaking tactics, including having a recognition deal withdrawn at the 11th hour.
But workers have called a mega picket for Wednesday 9 July that could re-energise the strike. It is inspired by the mass picket on 9 May in Birmingham, where
striking bin workers shut down the Lifford Lane depot.
Joel Mayfield, a striking worker at Lumley Street, said, “We call on all members of the trade union movement to come and show solidarity with us, to help us resolve this dispute once and for all.
“We’re asking as many people as possible to come down to Lumley Street in Sheffield.”
In a statement, Joel and another strike Joe Diviney added, “We’ve come too far to back down now; the only way is forwards to victory! Last week’s re-ballot showed 96 percent in favour of carrying on the fight on an 83 percent turnout.
“So we think now is the right time to ask for broader help from the wider movement beyond what we can be mobilised in Sheffield or South Yorkshire alone.
“On 9 May, a delegation of Sheffield bin workers and supporters attended the mega picket in Birmingham. We liked it and want to try something similar here.
Capitalising on that mood to fight is imperative.
In Birmingham, the mega picket put workers back on the front foot. After over 10 months of strikes, this is a crucial step forward for workers at Lumley Street.” Shutting down the council’s scab operation, and inspiring workers’ confidence are crucial steps to victory.
We Demand Change, the Sheffield Trades Council, PCS union and a host of local trade union branches are backing the strike.
We Demand Change said in a statement, “The fight for union recognition is a fight for all workers’ rights. The strike has reached a critical point and needs all out support.”
- Join the mass picket on Wednesday 9 July, from 6am, Lumley Street Depot (S4 7ZJ), Sheffield
Mega picket returns to Birmingham
It’s critical as many people as possible join the Birmingham bin workers mega picket on 25 July. For over three months, nearly 400 Unite union members have been on all-out strike to stop the Labour-run council pushing through savage cuts to worker’s pay.
Some workers stand to lose £8,000 a year, and during the strike the council has put drivers in the firing line.
Workers were stopping scab lorries from leaving the depot. It put the council onto the back foot. But the council came down hard, winning an injunction through the court that meant workers could not legally block lorries.
Then, on 9 May just as the injunction was lifted, a mega picket at Lifford Lane shut down the entire depot for a day. From there, workers went back to blocking lorries as rubbish began to line the streets of Birmingham once again. But workers are no longer blocking lorries—the court injunction will remain in place until the end of the strike.
Some labour activists have commendably disrupted lorries at depots, but it is no replacement for direct workers’ action.
Currently, it is the Unite leadership that is holding back the strike.
Unite is focused on getting council leader John Cotton to come to the table. But restraining struggle to the negotiation room is not way to win a strike, let alone one that the council is using everything in its toolbox to try to crush.
Workers must rebuild the momentum of the strike and put the pressure back on the council. That happened after the 9 May mega picket. It’s crucial that it happens again.
- Join the picket lines at 6am at Atlas Depot, B11 2AS, Lifford Lane Depot, B30 3JJ Perry Barr Depot, B42 2TU, Veolia Incinerator, B11 2BA and Ryton site (Coventry), CV8 3EJ
- Go to bit.ly/RSVPMegapicketII to book organised accommodation