{"id":20458,"date":"2025-04-14T23:26:07","date_gmt":"2025-04-14T23:26:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/20458\/"},"modified":"2025-04-14T23:26:07","modified_gmt":"2025-04-14T23:26:07","slug":"birmingham-bin-strikers-reject-pay-deal-now-build-solidarity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/20458\/","title":{"rendered":"Birmingham bin strikers reject pay deal\u2014now build solidarity"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\tNews<\/a><\/p>\n

The whole labour movement has to shower the strikers with solidarity <\/p>\n

By Arthur Townend and Thomas Foster<\/b><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tDownloading PDF. Please wait…<\/p>\n

Monday 14 April 2025<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tIssue <\/a>
\n\t\t\t\t\"Birmingham<\/p>\n

Birmingham refuse workers rallying outside Birmingham council<\/p>\n

Birmingham bin workers<\/a> have overwhelmingly rejected a \u201ctotally inadequate\u201d pay offer in a show of defiance to the Labour government.<\/p>\n

The result was announced the day after Labour drafted in the military as part of its strike-breaking campaigning in the city.<\/p>\n

The Labour-run council, with a green light from ministers, used police to break up picket lines two weeks ago. And it declared a \u201cmajor incident\u201d so it could use special powers to use agency workers and vehicles as scab labour.<\/p>\n

Deputy prime minister Angela Rayner claimed the deal was \u201csignificantly improved.\u201d But the one-off payment would have still left hundreds of workers out of pocket\u2014and wouldn\u2019t have reversed the council bosses\u2019 attack on drivers<\/p>\n

Steeven is one of the Unite union members who has been on indefinite strike over pay since 11 March. He told Socialist Worker, \u201cThe mood hasn\u2019t changed\u2014and the fight is still going on\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said that Labour is simply trying \u201cto wrap the strike up as quickly as possible\u201d rather than supporting workers.<\/p>\n

The whole labour movement has to shower the strikers with solidarity to make sure they win.<\/p>\n

Steeven went to the NEU education union conference on Sunday to \u201ctalk about the strike, how it affects us and try to raise support from the NEU\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to band together. Power is in our numbers. Unite has a million members. It has to utilise them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

NEU members in Birmingham have been building solidarity with the strike. \u201cThe main thing we have been doing is going to picket lines and talking to the strikers,\u201d Doug Morgan, an NEU rep, told Socialist Worker.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe encouraged them to be part of the Brum Rise Up protests against council cuts that are taking place. We have advertised the pickets in the Birmingham NEU reps\u2019 groups and argued to join the pickets.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are beginning an argument that, what the bin workers are doing today, we might have to do tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n \"\" <\/a><\/p>\n

Labour declares war on Brum bin strikers, they need your solidarity<\/a><\/p>\n

The Unite leadership responded to bosses using the cops as a strike-breaking force with talk of a \u201clegal challenge\u201d.<\/p>\n

It should call for mass pickets outside the depots\u2014and appeal for other workers to join them in solidarity.<\/p>\n

A mass picket could stop lorries going out and appeal to agency workers currently being used as scab labour to support the strike.<\/p>\n

Doug said that \u201cit is a massive weakness that Unite isn\u2019t pushing for solidarity\u201d.\u00a0 Many will \u201cdisagree with what the council is doing\u201d but Unite needs to \u201cgive them an opportunity to display it\u201d.<\/p>\n

Trade unions have to escalate solidarity for the Birmingham bin workers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re in Birmingham, why not organise a delegation from your workplace or union branch to go down to the pickets?<\/p>\n

Even better still, can members of several unions agree to go down to the picket lines together with their branch banners?<\/p>\n

That would be the beginning of the sort of action we need\u2014and could put pressure on the union leaders to shift.<\/p>\n

If you aren\u2019t in Birmingham, it\u2019s time to invite a bin striker to workplaces and union branches in your town or city.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jon Reddiford is an NEU national executive member and teacher in north Somerset. \u201cMy union branch donated \u00a3200 to their strike fund and other nearby NEU committees are putting it to their branch committees,\u201d he told Socialist Worker.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He said that activists in Bristol \u201corganised a solidarity visit for a striking bin worker\u201d last week. The striker would have \u201cvisited several workplaces with We Demand Change holding a meet and greet at the end\u201d.<\/p>\n

Train disruption meant the striker couldn\u2019t make it to Bristol, but they\u2019re looking to reschedule and it is an example for the rest of the movement to follow.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Can you ask a striker to do a tour in your town or city?<\/p>\n

Jon added, \u201cIt is a critical moment\u2014what is happening over the Birmingham bin strike exposes the true nature of the Labour government.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not on the side of working class people or the trade union movement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now is the time to ramp up solidarity\u2014it\u2019s a test for the whole movement. Trade unionists, activists, campaigners and socialists have to do everything they can to make sure the strike wins in the face of Keir Starmer\u2019s scab government.<\/p>\n

You can download a\u00a0collection sheet<\/a> to raise money at work. And download a Socialist Worker leaflet<\/a> to use at workplaces.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

What you can do to support the Birmingham bin workers<\/p>\n

1. You can raise solidarity for the bin workers in your workplace or union branch.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Why not go around work and do a collection or ask your union branch for a donation?<\/p>\n

Unite WM\/7186 Branch
Account number: 20308397
Sort code: 608301
Title: BCC Strike Donation<\/p>\n

2. Don\u2019t wait for Unite to put a call out for solidarity.<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re a trade unionist in Birmingham, organise a delegation to the picket lines. And trade unionists everywhere can invite a striker to speak to a union or workplace meeting.<\/p>\n

3. This is a fight for everyone who hates Starmer\u2019s agenda, not just trade unionists.<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you have protested over Palestine, climate change or racism and the far right, this is your fight too. The Labour council used an authoritarian law regularly used to restrict your protests.<\/p>\n

The fight is to defend the right to protest and against a system that puts profit before people. Go down to the picket line to support the workers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"News The whole labour movement has to shower the strikers with solidarity By Arthur Townend and Thomas Foster…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20459,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7820],"tags":[855,748,393,4884,13195,16,11660,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-20458","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-birmingham","8":"tag-birmingham","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-trade-unions","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-unite","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114338908444518039","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20458","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=20458"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20458\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}