99.5% – the vote for continued strike action in a recent Unite reballot of the Birmingham bin workers.
The Labour council has threatened ‘fire and rehire’ of bin workers unless they accept up to £8,000 of wage cuts. As they approach this crucial deadline, the reballot result shows the determination of these workers to see this battle through.
Strikers are aware that this isn’t just them versus the boss, but that they’re taking on Birmingham Labour councillors, government-appointed commissioners, and Starmer’s Labour government, mobilising the forces of the police and courts against them.
There are now rumours of an enormous £250,000 fine on the union. Unite general secretary Sharon Graham has rightly threatened that any fine will be paid by money that would otherwise have gone to the Labour Party.
The demo called by Unite for 20 September is an important opportunity to show the huge solidarity that exists in the wider trade union movement and working class.
The Labour council and government want to crush this strike. But events of the last two weeks show this is a government reeling in crisis. The whole union movement must now come to Unite’s aid with support and solidarity.
It is especially essential that Birmingham council unions Unison and the GMB make such a commitment, explaining to their members that a defeat for bin workers would open the door to the same attacks on them. A mobilisation across the whole region and wider is also vital. The government needs to understand that it is taking on the might of Unite and the whole trade union movement.
Political pressure is also a key part of the struggle. Birmingham City Council holds its local elections every four years, so the 2026 elections will be the first time since 2022 that workers in Birmingham can express their anger against the relentless cuts and attacks by the Labour-run council.
The Labour council is seen as incompetent in the eyes of the working class locally. But in reality this council and government are doing the bidding of the capitalists not the workers.
The brutality of the Birmingham bin dispute was the trigger for the emergency motion passed at Unite conference, on the initiative of Socialist Party members and allies. An overwhelming majority voted to suspend Angela Rayner (then deputy prime minister) and any Birmingham Labour councillor attacking the bin workers from Unite membership, and open up a discussion about the union’s relationship with Labour.
Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana’s announcement of ‘Your Party’ opens the opportunity for trade unionists to fight for a party that represents their interests, including the necessity of pro-worker candidates in the 2026 elections. In stark contrast to Angela Rayner visiting the scab workforce, Jeremy Corbyn visited each bin depot picket line.
Imagine the discussions this could open up in Birmingham about what programme local council candidates should stand under, with the inclusion of bin and other council workers in that debate. The first demand of Birmingham bin workers on potential candidates would be that they pledge the immediate withdrawal of all attacks, instead of wasting taxpayers’ money on agency staff and union-busting.
In the face of the devastating cuts in Birmingham, workers should demand that council candidates would set up a trade union-led inquiry into the ‘bankruptcy’ of Birmingham City Council and an immediate end to the mass selling of council assets. For a no-cuts needs-based budget, working alongside local union branches and the community to build a city-wide campaign to fight for the funding needed from central government.
Birmingham Socialist Party members
