Joel Mayfield, Striking Veolia worker in Sheffield
Refuse workers at Veolia’s Lumley Street Depot, Sheffield are now entering the eleventh month of indefinite strike action for union recognition. The media won’t tell you this, but the Sheffield bin strike has lasted nearly as long as the 1984-85 miners’ strike!
Veolia has violated basic democratic rights by intransigently refusing to allow its workers to be represented by the union of their choice. Terms and conditions have been degraded for too long: average real-terms pay at Veolia’s Sheffield subsidiary has fallen by 22% this decade! That’s why the strikers want to be represented at the negotiating table by Unite, who’ll stand up and fight.
This dispute is easily resolved, because all Veolia has to do is reinstate its own recognition agreement which it put to the workers in December – only to withdraw it at the last minute! There’s widespread support for the strikers’ demands; a petition circulated among all workers at the depot has collected nearly 150 signatories calling on Veolia to recognise Unite.
When the Central Arbitration Committee refused to help resolve the situation in early April, a decision was taken to escalate this dispute and bring it to a satisfactory conclusion. From April to June, this consisted of ‘slow walking’ picketing similar to the tactics seen in Birmingham. But then Veolia complained to the High Court because the company wants to prevent effective protest. The bosses prefer to drag people through law courts rather than talk reasonably – but why seek injunctions instead of negotiations? We’ve come too far to back down now; the only way is forwards to victory!
The recent reballot showed 96% in favour of carrying on the fight on an 83% turnout. So we think now is the right time to ask for broader help from the wider movement beyond what we can mobilise in Sheffield or South Yorkshire alone. On 9 May, a delegation of Sheffield binmen and supporters attended the ‘mega-picket’ in Birmingham; we liked it and want to try something similar here! Through our local trades council, the labour movement in Sheffield is calling for a massive display of trade union solidarity on 9 July. Please join our mass picket at Lumley Street Depot (S4 7ZJ) from 6am. This mass picket will be the start of a day of action culminating in a huge demonstration to lobby a meeting of the city council due to debate our petition about the strike.
- Hear Joel speak at the National Shop Stewards Network conference
