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The Socialist 3 October 2012

Let's get a million on the streets, then a 24-hour general strike

Tory education policy: 'This is just about making cuts isn't it?'

Building the fightback in the universities

Suspended student union president continues fight for reinstatement

NUT activists prepare for action

Barnfield College, Luton: Kick private profit out of education

Partial victory for international students at London Metropolitan

No to slave labour in universities

Europe: Class struggle returns with a bang

South Africa: Solidarity with miners

Algerian war of independence 1954-1962

Action against Profit From Illness!

South West NHS workers want action against 'pay cartel'

Save Greater Manchester mental healthcare

Cut the Con-Dems - not our NHS!

Bin workers calling indefinite strike brought results

Day of Action to save HMRC nurseries

Crossrail flashmob blocks London's Oxford Street

Arts and culture workers need to fight back

The fight of all our lives - For a 24-hour general strike

Councillors must resist all Tory cuts

Thousands march for an independent Scotland

March for Jobs in Scotland

Rape is No Joke campaign discussed

Scotland: Lamont throws Labour Party into crisis

Sickened by Labour conference? Build the anti-cuts alternative!

Council tax benefit - new and not improved

Squatting conviction paves way for rise in homelessness




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Mass meeting of Sita UK bin workers in Doncaster discussing pay offer, photo by Alistair Tice (Click to enlarge)

Bin workers calling indefinite strike brought results

This morning, Doncaster bin-workers, employed by Sita UK, voted 70-50 to accept a revised pay offer and return to work.

This follows two days of strike action taken last Friday and Monday and notice of indefinite strike action effectively starting from today.

The workers, all members of Unite the union, were demanding £1 an hour pay rise to bring them parity with Sita staff in West Yorkshire.

Before the strikes, Sita insisted their 1.7% pay offer was final - "Let me make this crystal clear, there is no more money" repeated one manager in negotiations.

However after a very militant picket last Friday which turned back scab bin-wagons, workers rejected a self-financing productivity deal and agreed to go on all-out strike.

This forced Sita to concede a 3.2% rise for this year (no strings and backdated to April) with inflation-rate pay rises in the following two years.

One worker said that he had worked on Doncaster bins for 17 years and this is the biggest annual pay rise he had ever had.

That said, nearly half the workers voted against this deal believing that the strike had Sita on the run and more could have been achieved by striking into next week.

Even so, this is a partial victory and will give confidence to a group of workers only recently unionised and still in the process of building a branch uniting all three depots.

Alistair Tice, Yorkshire Socialist Party

This version of this article was first posted on the Socialist Party website on 28 September 2012 and may vary slightly from the version subsequently printed in The Socialist.

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Education news & analysis

Tory education policy: 'This is just about making cuts isn't it?'