BIRMINGHAM, England — Now into their sixth week on strike, hundreds of Unite union members at three refuse depots here remain solid in the face of mounting attacks by the City Council, the cops and the Labour government, and they’re winning support. The strikers have voted overwhelmingly to reject a new employer offer that government ministers were urging them to accept.
As garbage piles up on the streets, the Birmingham City Council declared the strike a “major incident,” a term usually applied to rail disasters, floods and terrorist attacks. It gives council bosses the power to call in the police, fire brigade or army to try to break the strike.
Police erected barriers to prevent pickets standing at depot gates, and threatened to issue a “Section 14” notice under the Public Order Act, authorizing them to break up any “public assembly” of more than two people.
“Unite, Unite — we stand and fight!” chanted 150 strikers at a protest in response to the attacks outside the council offices April 8. Unite General Secretary Sharon Graham condemned the council’s decisions, saying the union “backs these workers 100%.”
“They’re making picketing illegal,” George Wilson, a union representative at the Lifford Lane depot, told the Militant, “even stopping us from talking to the drivers as the wagons go out and threatening us with arrest.”
In a boost to the strikers, the Fire Brigades Union rejected calls by some local councilors for its members to remove the refuse.
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner and Health Secretary Wesley Streeting backed the attacks on the strike. “It is totally unacceptable that Unite,” Street told the media, “has been blocking bin lorries from leaving the depot.”
Ayoub Khan, a Member of Parliament for Birmingham Perry Barr, has called for the army to be brought in. Khan is a member of the group of “independent” MPs led by former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. The editors of the Times also urged the government to use the army. Now the government has deployed army personnel to help direct the anti-strike effort.
The refuse workers have been on strike since March 11, in response to the council’s decision to eliminate some jobs and downgrade others, leaving some 150 workers up to 8,000 pounds ($10,460) out of pocket — 25% of their yearly wage. The new offer gave a two-year respite to the wage cuts facing workers whose jobs were being axed, but extended the regrading to drivers and loaders — meaning that more workers would take a hit to their pay.
The council has engaged in other “cost cutting” measures since it declared bankruptcy in 2023, targeting public libraries and the provision of special educational needs.
‘Fighting for future generations’
“Our wages and conditions are the result of previous union fights,” Paul Boddy, a striker at the Lifford Lane depot, told the Militant. “We’re in a fight not just for ourselves, but for future generations and for other workers in Birmingham. And we’re getting support.”
In the face of the government attacks, union solidarity is crucial to the strike’s outcome.
Simon Edwards and Mike Parfitt, Unite union reps and branch officers of refuse workers in Cardiff, Wales, visited the Lifford Lane picket line to show their support April 9.
“Good to see Birmingham refuse crews still standing,” Unite Branch Secretary Stephan Thorpe wrote to the strikers. Thorpe led a successful two-month strike by refuse workers in Warrington, Lancashire.
Two rail workers from Manchester were enthusiastically welcomed by the strikers after bringing a message of solidarity from the South Manchester branch of the Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers union.
Andrés Mendoza contributed to this article.