On the Birmingham mega picket in May (Photo: Guy Smallman)
In a mammoth assault on the Birmingham bin strike, the Labour-run council is threatening mass sackings.
This demands an urgent response from the Unite union—and the wider workers’ movement.
Labour council leaders announced last Wednesday that 130 workers are in the firing line.
Unite members are on indefinite strike against a pay cut of up to £8,000 a year. They have stood firm in the face of strike-breaking—including the use of police to break up picket lines.
The council’s response is now a savage threat of mass redundancies. Bosses say they will begin a “collective consultation period” on Wednesday this week. Workers will be offered voluntary redundancy or other roles on worse pay.
One refuse worker told Socialist Worker the threat of mass sackings shows “how unreasonable the council is being”.
“Now is the time to up the ante more than ever.”
The announcement came as Unite and Birmingham council were in talks at the Acas mediation service.
But bosses have put an end to any further discussions. Labour council leader John Cotton claimed, “Throughout this process the council has sought to be reasonable and flexible. But we have reached the absolute limit of what we can offer.”
Birmingham council tried to blame women workers who fought for pay equality for its attacks on bin workers’. In 2023, women workers in Birmingham won an equal pay claim. But, instead of levelling up women’s pay, the council wants to drive down all council workers’ pay.
The equal pay bill isn’t to blame for the financial crisis in Birmingham. Years of Tory austerity and outsourcing have caused the crisis. From the beginning, the council has used scab vehicles, the courts and the police to undermine the strike.
Bosses won a court injunction in June to stop workers blocking scab vehicles. The Unite leadership has been relying on a wholly inadequate “legal challenge” and did not call for defiance against the injunction.
And it has argued that the key is getting Cotton into the negotiation room as he’s the “decision maker”. But the Labour council and government are determined to defeat the strikers.
The threat of redundancies marks a serious escalation to the council’s offensive
Mass picketing—sustained by solidarity from the trade union movement—has the power to shut down refuse collections in the city.
Debates raged over Palestine and Labour at the Unite union’s policy conference, which takes place every two years.
General secretary Sharon Graham made a scathing speech, slamming Israel’s terror in Palestine. A two and a half hour debate saw a strong motion on Palestine pass, with little opposition.
Unite is the union with the highest density of members in the arms industry. It’s significant that the motion said Unite would encourage and support “members to refuse to build, handle or transport weapons destined for Israel”.
The motion also affirmed Unite’s commitment to a permanent ceasefire and the Palestinian’s right to
self-determination. And it urges “members to take part in divestment campaigns”.
Pressure from the rank and file has pushed Unite’s leadership to strengthening its policy on Palestine.
But that pressure must translate into action, as Unite’s passivity around Palestine since 7 October was in the face of already relatively strong pro-Palestine policy.
There were also debates around Unite’s relationship to the Labour Party.
Amid the Birmingham bin strike (see left), an emergency motion passed resolving to suspend deputy prime minister Angela Rayner and councillors who are Unite members.
Only Jim Kelly, chair of United Left grouping within Unite spoke against the motion. Danny Taylor, a Birmingham striker and Unite rep, told the conference, “They are taking us to the High Court to ban our action. But that only proves what we’ve always known—that our strength is in our unity.
“That’s why they are trying to divide us, because they are scared of what we can do when we all stand together. This isn’t just a dispute over the bins—it’s a battle for the soul of the public services,” he added.
Unfortunately, the motion did not call on members to act around the mega picket on 25 July.
Graham has proved Unite will back long-running strikes, but has consistently failed to build momentum behind them that is needed to win.
In her speech, a Labour-critical Graham said the only money Unite pays to Labour is the affiliation fee.
The implication was that if the membership wants to ditch affiliation, it can do so at a conference that debates the union’s constitution next year.
The conference also saw a crucial motion passed unanimously on trans+ rights, with no opposition from the floor.
“We acknowledge that human autonomy, self-identification and freedom from gender-based violence are key points in the fight against misogyny,” the motion read.
Unite now has strong policy around Palestine and vocal criticism of Starmer’s Labour.
But whether the union policies are transformed into concrete action is another question.
Members must use the improvements to policy to get on the Palestine demos and fightback against Labour.
Teachers at a secondary school in south London struck for two days last week after bosses “targeted” Jamaican workers, the NEU union said.
Workers at Harris Academy Beckenham have spoken out against bosses severely overworking them “to the point of exhaustion”.
It is part of the Harris Federation, Britain’s second largest academy chain. NEU reps report that bosses have underpaid some teachers by up to £10,000.
One teacher says bosses fired them just months before she was due to have a baby. “We are constantly criticised and set up to fail,” one Jamaican teacher told the Evening Standard. “They set us targets but the goalposts are always moving. You meet one target, and they set another. It makes you constantly second-guess yourself. It erodes you as a teacher.”
The NEU said that teachers at the school are working 95 hours over their recommended limit for the academic year.
And teachers at Maiden Erlegh School in Wokingham struck last week over bosses’ plans to increase their workload. The bosses’ restructuring plan would leave teachers thousands of pounds worse off with higher workloads.
NEU members are demanding that the restructuring plan is scrapped.
Workers at Bristol’s Centre for Academic Language and Development (Cald) struck on Monday—and were set to strike on Wednesday and Thursday.
The UCU union members are taking 21 days of strikes against bosses’ threats to make 45 workers at the centre redundant.
Cald runs courses and provides support for both international and home students to improve their academic and language skills. Bosses blame falling numbers of international students due to the previous Tory government’s hostile environment policies towards migrants.
But workers don’t accept the need for a race to the bottom. They are demanding the university lobbies the government.
At the University of Bradford, UCU members are planning strikes for the whole of next week over a planned £16 million worth of cuts.
Bosses plan to start issuing redundancy notices to workers this month unless workers can force them to change course. The UCU says bosses have failed to spell out exactly where the job cuts will fall.
But the university’s chief financial officer said it wants to reduce staffing to 2019 levels—which means slashing over 300 jobs.
If cuts go ahead it will mean the closure of courses in chemistry and film and television studies. Job cuts are also proposed in archaeology and forensic science, biomedical sciences, dementia studies, engineering, peace studies and international development, pharmacy, psychology and public health.
The potential closure of film and television courses is especially ill-judged as Bradford has been chosen as this year’s City of Culture.
After a long struggle, UCU members at the University of Dundee have stopped all job cuts. Strikes earlier this year pushed bosses to withdraw plans for hundreds of job cuts. Some 13 workers at two research centres were still at risk, but have now been told their jobs are safe.
The Labour government is making vicious cuts of 6 percent to funding for adult education.
At the Working Men’s College in Camden—in Keir Starmer’s north London constituency—this means that 19 jobs are at risk. Workers held a rally last week to defend the institution, which has existed for over 170 years.
UCU union members at the Redbridge Institute of Adult Education in east London are fighting plans to cut jobs and provision for students.
The union says that management’s consultation process is “shambolic”.
It is calling on the Labour-run council to intervene to get bosses to negotiate.
Cuts to adult education are an attack on working class people who want to improve their lives or to develop their knowledge.
UCU members at Cheshire College South and West (CCSW) in north west England are set to strike over pay on Thursday and Friday of next week. Workers have been offered just 1.5 percent as a one-off pay rise.
At Truro and Penwith College in south west England, workers won after threatening to strike. College bosses proposed earlier this year to cut up to 100 jobs. The UCU branch voted to accept an offer that said there would be no further threats to jobs.
East Coast bus workers ballot
Around 130 workers employed by East Coast Buses are balloting for strikes. The Unite union members rejected a poor two-year pay deal. The ballot will close on
24 July. This could lead to strikes that disrupt the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Glasgow Subway workers’ pay win
Around 100 Unite union members on the Glasgow Subway have accepted an “improved” pay offer after three days of strikes at the end of last month. The workers, who are employed by Strathclyde Partnership for Transport, threatened to walk out again if bosses did not improve their offer.
Workers have won an increase in basic pay, allowances, sick pay and overtime rates.
Council workers accept pay offer
Local government workers in Scotland have backed a two-year pay deal.
Thousands of Unite union members voted by 77 percent for a two-year pay deal of 4 percent this year plus 3.5 next year.
Glasgow Airport strike to take off
Around 100 Unite union members at Glasgow Airport Limited are set to strike for two days from 24 July.
Unite union members rejected a pay offer of 4 percent and voted by over 98 percent for strikes.
Orkney Ferries ballot for action
Unite union members at Orkney Ferries are balloting for strikes after rejecting multiple pay offers. Over 30 workers are involved, including engineers, passenger and customer services assistants along with chefs. Workers recently rejected a 4 percent pay offer.
The ballot will close on 5 August.
Workers fed up of the bosses’ games
Bar workers at Draughts —the iconic board game bar chain with venues across London in Hackney, Stratford and Waterloo—have voted 100 percent in favour of strikes.
The UVW union members are demanding an end to exploitative zero-hours contracts and chaotic scheduling, including late shift cancellations that leave workers financially insecure.
UVW says “strike dates will be announced shortly”.
Health workers set to strike across four Manchester hospitals
Bus workers rejected an offer and came back out
Deadline to accept new conditions approaches
