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\n There were cries of \u2018victory to the bin workers\u2019 as a crowd of protesters and a former Labour Party leader gathered for the second \u2018mega picket\u2019 on a warm summer\u2019s morning.\n <\/p>\n
The demonstration was in full swing at the Atlas Depot in Tyseley at around 6.30am on Friday, with a colourful array of union banners tied to the metal fences.<\/p>\n
One union member said that workers from across the country had already arrived in a show of solidarity with Birmingham\u2019s striking bin workers.<\/p>\n
With lorries sitting in the depot and the gates closed, speakers began to address the crowd of protesters from all walks of life as passing vehicles honked their horns in support.<\/p>\n
Much like the first \u2018megapicket\u2019 back in May, the recurring message was that the bins strike had become a symbol of other union struggles and was now an important cause for many outside of the city too.<\/p>\n
It was also clear that the anger and frustration towards both the Labour-run city council and central government was not fading away as the dispute drags on into summer.<\/p>\n
The event\u2019s most notable speaker was forer Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn. He said:\u00a0\u201cIt wasn\u2019t the Birmingham bin workers who got the finances of Birmingham City Council into a mess.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t the bin workers who created any of the problems that Birmingham faces. They are the people that keep the city clean and support the people of this city.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we win in Birmingham, that\u2019s a huge victory [for workers]. But if we lose, think which city is going to be next.\u201d<\/p>\n
Later during the demonstration, Brum Rise Up campaigner Kate Taylor said that the movement in support of bin workers \u201cneeds to continue to grow\u201d so others can be supported elsewhere.<\/p>\n
She went on to argue that the Labour government should be doing more to support councils, saying:\u00a0\u201cLocal authorities are in significant financial distress across the country and that is because of significant underfunding.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have got to stand together and that\u2019s why people have come together from all across the country.\u201d<\/p>\n
The bins strike first started back in January and was triggered by a dispute between the council and Unite the union over the loss of the Waste Recycling and Collection Officer (WRCO) role.<\/p>\n
In response to striking workers\u2019 concerns about pay, the leadership at the Labour-run council has repeatedly insisted a \u201cfair and reasonable\u201d offer had been made.<\/p>\n
The second \u2018megapicket\u2019 was held this week after the council said it was ending negotiations with Unite to resolve the dispute.<\/p>\n
The authority said it would notify staff and unions of its intention to enter consultation with affected workers \u2013 while keeping the door open to those wanting to accept offers to retrain or be redeployed.<\/p>\n
Council leader John Cotton said at the time: \u201cWe have negotiated in good faith but unfortunately Unite has rejected all offers so we must now press ahead to both address our equal pay risk and make much needed improvements to the waste service.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnite\u2019s demands would leave us with another equal pay bill of hundreds of millions of pounds, which is totally unacceptable, and would jeopardise the considerable progress we have made in our financial recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n
On equal pay, spokesperson for the local authority said it recognised it has, over many years, failed to address all of its equal pay risks.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have committed to ending that,\u201d they continued. \u201cProgress towards settling equal pay claims following the agreement reached in November 2024 is in line with plans agreed in partnership with GMB.\u201d<\/p>\n
Local government minister Jim McMahon has argued that Unite \u201crejected the council\u2019s fair and reasonable offer\u2026.[despite] the council\u2019s hard work to offer options to affected workers.\u201d<\/p>\n
He has also insisted that the Labour government is working to \u2018fix the foundations\u2019 of local government.<\/p>\n
\u201cBirmingham City Council are independent employers and this dispute is between the council and Unite,\u201d he told the House of Commons this week. \u201cThe government is rightly not a party to it but we do have an interest in it, recognising the impact on local residents.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will continue to support the council to keep Birmingham\u2019s streets clear.\u201d<\/p>\n
Birmingham City Council also confirmed this week it had applied for contempt of court proceedings against Unite due to \u201cpersistent evidence of a breach of the court order which the union have agreed to and are required to comply with\u201d.<\/p>\n
It said the injunction prevented the blocking of its refuse collection vehicles, both at its depots and on streets.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are taking this step to ensure the safety of our city and the safety of our workforce, including those who are on strike,\u201d the council said.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for Unite said: \u201cThe court application is the latest distraction from the real task of resolving the ongoing dispute.\u201d<\/p>\n
Unite also said that since the council\u2019s court application, it had worked with its members and reps to \u201censure that there has been compliance with the court order\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There were cries of \u2018victory to the bin workers\u2019 as a crowd of protesters and a former Labour…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":296968,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7820],"tags":[22440,22441,855,9163,22439,748,9444,1354,393,9453,4884,14987,269,12,3669,9440,93,16823,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-296967","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-birmingham","8":"tag-102-5","9":"tag-102-5-fm","10":"tag-birmingham","11":"tag-black-country","12":"tag-brierley-hill","13":"tag-britain","14":"tag-dab","15":"tag-dudley","16":"tag-england","17":"tag-fm","18":"tag-great-britain","19":"tag-halesowen","20":"tag-music","21":"tag-news","22":"tag-online","23":"tag-radio","24":"tag-sport","25":"tag-stourbridge","26":"tag-uk","27":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114927580308631867","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296967","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=296967"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296967\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/296968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=296967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=296967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=296967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}