BIRMINGHAM, England — “We’re solid, 97% voted against the council deal and keep fighting,” striking Unite union steward Danny Taylor told the Militant here April 24. Hundreds of refuse workers have been on strike since March 11 against the Birmingham City Council.
“John Cotton, the council leader, says in public they aren’t making pay cuts, but they won’t commit to this in our talks,” Taylor said. “They tell us they want new job evaluations that could downgrade drivers’ pay.”
“And this is now a fight with central government,” union steward George Wilson said, describing his anger at Labour government Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, who has weighed in behind the council bosses. “She met with them and the refuse depot managers, but not a single striker.”
Pickets report five van loads of police were deployed at Lifford Lane depot April 23 to try to weaken their picket line. “They even stopped us talking to the agency workers the council is using to break our strike,” Wilson said.
“We’re concerned they’re planning to train up more agency workers to replace our jobs at lower rates,” Taylor added. Two days later, striking workers mounted stronger pickets and delayed strikebreakers leaving the depots.
The high stakes in this fight are drawing in solidarity. Taylor said in the last week local branches of the Fire Brigades Union and the Communication Workers Union, which organizes postal workers, sent their backing.
Communist League campaigners going door to door in the Longbridge area helped build support, showing workers a Militant article on the strike. Craig Allen, a plumber, described how he had heard from a refuse worker this was a pay cut, not an offer. “I’ve told my workmates what the real issues are,” and why they should back this fight, he said.