Birmingham refuse workers on strike outside the council (Photo: Alistair Wingate)
Hundreds of refuse workers in Birmingham are in their third week of an indefinite strike.
The Labour-run council is pushing savage cuts—but the Unite union members are fighting for pay, jobs and workers’ safety.
“The council has cut the waste reduction collection officer role. They act as an extra pair of eyes for the drivers,” Steven, a striker at the Atlas depot, told Socialist Worker. On Thursday, the council announced it will issue compulsory redundancy notices for more than 70 workers impacted by the cutting of the role.
“The driver has a limited view and people need to let the driver know what is happening around them. It’s a pivotal role—and without it the job is more dangerous.”
Steven said that the role is not only essential for workers’ safety, but “they deal face to face with the public”.
“Without them, there’s no one to talk to the public,” he explained. “There is no one to take away extra bin bags and deal with complaints—so this will impact the public.
“This will affect a lot of people—more than people think. It’s not just the public. We do schools and businesses and we have contracts with hospitals.
“The people making up these rules never do this job, and probably don’t even take their own bins out. They sit in an office getting paid £300,000 a year. And that tax money is going to people making decisions they clearly don’t know about.”
But the council isn’t just trying to slash essential jobs—it’s attacking workers’ wages.
Steven said that the council is attacking “loaders and it’s also coming for drivers”. The council is trying to implement a pay banding system, similar to the NHS.
“This is why we are striking—so they don’t come for anyone else’s wages,” said Steven. “Times are hard—how can you just take this money from us when the suits are getting paid so much?
“You can’t take this money from us and expect us to do the same work.”
The council’s proposed cuts will mean pay grade 3 workers will lose up to £8,000 a year, and those on grade 2 will lose nearly £2,000 a year.
“So the strike is about the role, pay banding—but it’s also about awareness,” he said.
He added, “Out of all the lorries, just three were in good condition. I’ve been here for nine years, and I’ve never had a good truck. Buttons don’t work.”
Steven said one issue is “when the curtains at the back aren’t long enough.” “So glass and debris gets spat out the back of the lorry, either onto us or onto the road, which is just dangerous,” he said.
Rather than pay workers properly, the council is using agency workers to break the strike. Steven said, “Each depot is supposed to have 20 percent agency workers—but all depots have added another 20 percent.
“The issue is that agency workers don’t necessarily know what they’re doing. So that is bad for the public, but also has a knock-on effect on the council.
“There have been a few clashes between strikers and non-strikers, but we get a lot of support from other staff members. That support is nice to see.”
Some Birmingham residents are demanding council tax rebates as refuse services have essentially halted and have had to resort to paying for skips. Others have resorted to fly-tipping waste around the city.
But Steven said that the public who know what is happening are very supportive. “There is a lot of misinformation—people think we are asking for more money,” he said.
“We are striking just to protect what we already have.”
“Really we should be asking for more money, but the priority is that we need to stop the cuts. Some higher up thinks we aren’t worth that money. But we clearly are—look at the impact the strike is having.
“This job is dirty, it’s hard, we come across rats all the time. People think it’s a simple job, but it’s not—it can be a lot more risky than putting a bin on a lorry.
“Look at the streets now—it goes to show how imperative we are to the city.”
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