{"id":1012208,"date":"2026-06-08T01:05:18","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T01:05:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1012208\/"},"modified":"2026-06-08T01:05:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T01:05:18","slug":"birmingham-bin-strikers-fighting-unite-betrayal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1012208\/","title":{"rendered":"Birmingham bin strikers fighting Unite betrayal!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Birmingham bin strikers on the picket line on March 11th, the first anniversary of their strike,<\/p>\n

THE BIRMINGHAM bin strikers are fighting against an attempt by the leaders of their union, Unite, to call off their more than one-year-long struggle and accept the massive \u00a38,000 pay cut that they have been resisting.<\/p>\n

Striker and Unite member Paul Jackson condemned what he described as a \u2018betrayal\u2019, yesterday, telling News Line: \u2018This was never about a pay-off. All along we\u2019ve been fighting against attempts to downgrade us and cut our pay by \u00a38,000 a year.<\/p>\n

\u2018Now they want to sell off the grade and accept the payment of between \u00a39-\u00a316,000 compensation.<\/p>\n

\u2018This so-called \u201cball-park deal\u201d would be a real betrayal and an acceptance of the pay cut, which we will never do.<\/p>\n

\u2018One thing they have forgotten is that the court injunction that was forced on us is no longer applicable because there is new council, so why don\u2019t we resume mass picketing and stop the lorries?<\/p>\n

\u2018We are being betrayed and not just by the council but by our own union, from right at the top.<\/p>\n

\u2018This fight was always about keeping the grades and the money.<\/p>\n

\u2018This deal is rubbish and I believe that if it is put to us we will reject it. The lads are not stupid.\u2019<\/p>\n

Unite put out the following press release last Friday: \u2018Unite, the UK\u2019s leading union, has welcomed the statements by former ACAS chair Lord Brendan Barber and Mayor of the West Midlands Richard Parker.<\/p>\n

\u2018Both statements from two senior figures in the room over the months of negotiations with Unite and the leader of the council, are clear and unambiguous.<\/p>\n

\u2018The negotiations between Barber, Parker, former leader of Birmingham council John Cotton and Unite general secretary Sharon Graham began in December 2025 and the deal was concluded in March 2026.<\/p>\n

\u2018As Lord Barber has said, \u201cUnelected officers and commissioners of the council attempting to cause delay is unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: \u201cAs Lord Barber and Mayor Parker have both said, the deal to end this dispute has been negotiated and agreed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe continued attempts by unelected council officers and commissioners to block, delay and throw into doubt this deal is unacceptable and will simply not work.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe look forward to the elected members of the council agreeing the process for the implementation of the deal, so the usual ballot of members can take place.<\/p>\n

\u201cWorkers and residents have put up with enough of the constant dither and delay. This is a good deal for workers and residents and it needs to be swiftly finalised.\u201d\u2019<\/p>\n

In contrast, striker Penny Robbins condemned Unite\u2019s attempt to accept the downgrading of her job and those of her colleagues, telling News Line: \u2018We\u2019ve been fighting now for 17 months against being downgraded.<\/p>\n

\u2018The grade 3s are being downgraded to grade 2, the grade 4s are being downgraded to grade 3 and that means losing thousands of pounds a year over a number of years.<\/p>\n

\u2018Quite frankly, I don\u2019t see the point of the compensation, the union should stand firm and continue to demand that there is no downgrading and no pay cut.<\/p>\n

\u2018The strike should be maintained and the pay cut should be thrown out.\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Birmingham bin strikers on the picket line on March 11th, the first anniversary of their strike, THE BIRMINGHAM…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1012209,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[7820],"tags":[855,748,3374,393,4884,3738,529,18744,2952,16,34004,15],"class_list":["post-1012208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-birmingham","tag-birmingham","tag-britain","tag-employment","tag-england","tag-great-britain","tag-local-government","tag-police","tag-protest","tag-strike","tag-uk","tag-unions","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1012208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1012208"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1012208\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1012209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1012208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1012208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1012208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}