Unite members at Sheffield Veolia bin depot are now in their sixth month of indefinite strike action for union recognition.
Since Veolia bosses withdrew a draft recognition agreement that they agreed to in December, solidarity pickets and Unite organisers’ leverage campaign has been stepped up in the new year.
For the last three weeks, Socialist Party members have joined the now weekly mass pickets. Unite leaflets appeal to the GMB members still working to pressure their union officials to agree to joint union recognition and not fall for Veolia’s divide-and-rule tactics. Meanwhile, Unite organisers have taken the campaign to Veolia’s Paris headquarters, and even to Arizona in the US, to confront the multinational company’s CEO.
All the Unite strikers remain solid in their determination to gain recognition for the union of their choice and are now balloting for a third time to renew their strike mandate.
Alistair Tice, Sheffield Socialist Party