{"id":50484,"date":"2025-04-25T22:12:08","date_gmt":"2025-04-25T22:12:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/50484\/"},"modified":"2025-04-25T22:12:08","modified_gmt":"2025-04-25T22:12:08","slug":"trade-unionists-build-solidarity-for-birmingham-bin-strike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/50484\/","title":{"rendered":"Trade unionists build solidarity for Birmingham bin strike"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\tTrade Unions<\/a><\/p>\n

Dockers at Avonmouth port briefly walked out in solidarity on the day that one of the Unite union bin strikers in toured workplaces<\/p>\n

By Arthur Townend<\/b><\/p>\n

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

Friday 25 April 2025<\/p>\n

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

We Demand Change Bristol organising solidarity for the Birmingham bin strike (Picture: Socialist Worker)<\/p>\n

Trade unionists in Bristol and Manchester have led the way in building solidarity<\/a> for the indefinite bin strike in Birmingham.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Labour council and government have tried to break the strike using the police and scab labour<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dockers at Avonmouth port briefly walked out and rallied outside the gates on Thursday.<\/p>\n

It was a strong show of solidarity on the day that Steeven, one of the Unite union strikers in Birmingham, toured workplaces. \u00a0<\/p>\n

He met with Unite and GMB members at Hinkley power station, and with Unite officials and reps in the union\u2019s regional office.<\/p>\n

That meeting also involved refuse workers from Bristol and South Gloucestershire, who were looking to learn from the struggle in Birmingham.<\/p>\n

Huw, an activist who organised the solidarity tour, told Socialist Worker, \u201cIt\u2019s been an excellent day today. It\u2019s about rewinning the tradition that, when workers are on strike, there\u2019s a wider movement of solidarity behind them.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the middle of the day, Steeven attended an online meeting of Camden Unison union local government branch in north London. It has passed a motion that, if Birmingham workers call a mass picket or protest in the city, the branch will send a delegation.<\/p>\n

The day finished with a solidarity meeting with trade unionists, students and activists.<\/p>\n

Steeven said, \u201cIt\u2019s disgraceful that we\u2019ve voted for a Labour government that\u2019s meant to fight for the working class. The council says it\u2019s got no money. But how can it be bankrupt when it\u2019s paying seven commissioners a monthly salary every day?<\/p>\n

\u201cHow can Labour say it\u2019s got no money in the pot when it\u2019s sending billions to war and Ukraine?\u201d<\/p>\n

He added, \u201cHere we have teachers facing a pay cut, universities facing huge job cuts, Labour trying to sell the NHS. We\u2019re all fighting the same fight. We need to get the public on our side, get solidarity between different workers and show the bosses that we can, and will, win.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ken, a Unite official at the event, told Socialist Worker, \u201cWe always go into these disputes hoping there\u2019s a victory at the end.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis meeting\u2014and the one earlier today\u2014raising solidarity, building these wider networks\u2014these will absolutely contribute to that victory.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that Labour is looking to \u201cdismantle the public sector\u201d. \u201cWhen there\u2019s a strike, it\u2019s crucial to attack the major shareholder. When it\u2019s a public sector strike, there\u2019s one major shareholder\u2014the government,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Another activist pointed out that the scale of disruption<\/a> shows the importance of refuse workers.<\/p>\n

People at the meeting all backed the idea of a solidarity demonstration in Birmingham.<\/p>\n

Huw said that \u201cthere is potential to organise a big demonstration, which would be a step forwards in terms of strengthening the struggle\u201d.<\/p>\n

A Unison member added that it would be \u201cbrilliant\u201d. \u201cI feel like that would stimulate a wider movement, bringing in an even wider network\u00a0of\u00a0solidarity,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Steeven visited workplaces in Manchester. Sue, chair of Greater Manchester Unite Community branch, organised the solidarity work off the back of the We Demand Change<\/a> summit in London. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Those involved were Unison and Unite members at Salford bins and a Trafford GMB rep who works in cleaning.<\/p>\n

Steeven met with mental health workers in Unison, who have been on strike at Manchester NHS trust. And North West PCS brought a solidarity collection.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst of all, it\u2019s about the basic principle of solidarity between workers when they are in struggle,\u201d Sue told Socialist Worker.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s become bigger than a local dispute because of the intervention of the government to break the dispute using the police.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Huw added, \u201cHopefully it gives Birmingham workers confidence<\/a>\u2014I think this is a crucial way to build class confidence.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe dispute being as big as it is, the media isn\u2019t giving them favour. It\u2019s important to show the workers themselves that most people support them and aren\u2019t taken in by the media saying they are being greedy or holding Birmingham to ransom.\u201d<\/p>\n

Solidarity in the face of Labour\u2019s attack on Birmingham refuse workers is essential\u2014we need many more tours like in Bristol and Manchester.<\/p>\n

The Unite leadership should call a mass picket and demonstration in Birmingham to pile pressure onto the bosses and Labour.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Trade Unions Dockers at Avonmouth port briefly walked out in solidarity on the day that one of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50485,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7820],"tags":[27122,855,381,748,393,4884,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-50484","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-birmingham","8":"tag-bin-workers","9":"tag-birmingham","10":"tag-bristol","11":"tag-britain","12":"tag-england","13":"tag-great-britain","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114400902802051153","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50484","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=50484"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50484\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}