Strikes round-up: Join Birmingham protests against council cuts

Charlotte (middle) at the council campaign launch in Birmingham last week

Around 100 activists gathered in Birmingham last week to launch a campaign against the savage cuts proposed by Birmingham’s Labour-run council. The meeting, organised by the three main council unions Unison, GMB and Unite, follows the announcement of the biggest cuts package ever announced by a council.

That’s set to be £300 million over two years. Unison branch secretary Caroline Johnson rejected the argument that the cuts result from equal pay claims from low paid women workers. “The £300 million is partly due to a botched computer system but most of it is due to an increased demand for council services and inflationary costs,” she said.

Caroline added that “one in five councils in England are facing bankruptcy”. Charlotte, a mother of two 13-year-old boys with special educational needs, said further cuts will push people over the edge. She asked how she was going to get two wheelchairs on a bus when it will only take one.

Ann Gallagher, Friends of Birmingham Libraries, said 25 out of 37 community libraries are also at risk. “One billion pounds has been taken from the city since 2010, if that was returned we would have £700 million to improve services,” she said.

The meeting ended with a call to use networks in the city to build a major demonstration at 12 noon on Saturday this week in Victoria Square. This will be followed by a mass lobby of the council at 5pm on Tuesday next week when it is due to vote on the cuts.

David Hughes

Steel unions must fight for Port Talbot

Thousands of steel workers are preparing to begin a strike vote against devastating plant closures by Tata bosses. The Unite union, which represents over 1,000 workers at the Port Talbot steel works, was set to begin the balloting process on Friday this week.

The actual voting is scheduled to start on Friday next week and closing on Tuesday 9 April. Strikes could begin before the end of April. The main steel union, Community, has also said it is ready to ballot. But at the start of this week it had not announced dates. The other steel union, the GMB, has made no statement about strikes. Last week leaders of all the unions formally met Tata.

Tata wants to destroy 2,423 steel jobs across Britain, with 1,929 of those at Port Talbot. Bosses have presided over a catastrophic fall in steel jobs, and union leaders have failed to challenge them. Workers should organise to win the strike votes and press for hard-hitting action as soon as possible. It must not become just a token campaign that relies on Labour to deliver in the future.

Housing strikers out to repair pay

Housing association workers in London are set to strike for the first time. Bosses only offered the 50 repair workers a 4 percent pay rise for 2023. Unite union has been locked out of collective pay negotiations. It means Sanctuary Housing doesn’t engage in pay negotiations with any union.

The strike was set to begin on Thursday of this week, and continue on Friday of this week and Monday of next in Hackney, east London.

Strikes are just the ticket in Slough

Over 40 parking enforcement workers in Slough, Berkshire, struck on Monday for two weeks until 10 March over pay. The Saba Park Services workers carry out parking attendance, back office support, CCTV monitoring and bus lane enforcement. Slough council outsources the workers, who are in the Unite union, and says it doesn’t have a role in negotiations.

Above-inflation pay in West Midlands

West Midlands Metro tram drivers secured a 13.5 percent pay deal from 1 April without striking. In 2022 the workers, in the Unite union, won a 20.1 percent pay increase for drivers with over a year’s service and 13.7 percent for those with less than a year. Strikes this year could’ve seen a bigger win for the workers.

• Around 500 workers at National Express Ring and Ride workers across the West Midlands have also accepted a one-year deal also without striking. It’s backdated to 1 January this year and is worth 12.8 percent. The workers provide minibus services for elderly and disabled people, and school children with special educational needs.

Workers will not live worse for less

Some 500 Sainsbury’s lorry drivers in Essex and Birmingham are voting to strike against outsourcing. The workers, who are in the Unite union, are employed by Sainsbury’s. Bosses want to transfer them to Wincanton at the end of April.

M25 workers want to run over pay offer

M25 maintenance workers employed by Balfour Beatty are voting to put bosses in jam with industrial action. The 150 Unite union members maintain the entire M25 but have only been offered a 3.4 percent pay offer from bosses. The ballot closes on 12 March.