In September 2023, Birmingham City Council declared itself bankrupt, driven into financial collapse by austerity and outsourcing, combined with a backlog of equal pay claims, amounting to an estimated £760 million in liabilities.
In the aftermath, the council still faces the task of managing a city sliding deeper into neglect.
In an effort to protect their jobs and services, refuse workers organised in Unite made significant sacrifices. They accepted cuts to overtime and night-time allowances, route changes, outdated equipment, and increased safety pressures.
But this gesture of compromise was taken by the council as a sign of weakness.
Agreements were reneged on, and key health and safety roles were scrapped. Together, around £8,000 a year was slashed from the pay of 150 workers, alongside further service cuts.
In response, Birmingham’s bin workers have fought back through strike action. What began as intermittent walkouts has since escalated into an all-out strike.
The impact on the council has been visible. With roughly 17,000 tonnes of uncollected waste choking the city, their contingency plan of relying on scab labour has failed. Workers have actively blocked access to refuse centres, holding the line.
Shamefully, the council has called in police to act as strikebreakers. Meanwhile, the establishment has whipped up a hysterical, coordinated campaign to demonise the bin workers.
The council has declared a ‘major incident’ – a thinly veiled excuse to justify escalating repression. And Ayoub Khan, Independent MP for Birmingham Perry Barr, has even called for the army to be deployed to clear the streets!
The media has waged a relentless campaign to divide residents and workers.
Starmer’s Labour has offered nothing but hollow concern, lamenting the “misery and disruption” caused by the strike. Yet his government has stood by while the cost of bankruptcy is dumped on the shoulders of ordinary people.
Through it all, Unite has continued to call for good faith negotiations, despite facing hostile pressure from the government and council, alongside police threats to arrest picketing workers.
“Unite’s door remains open to meaningful discussions with the council to resolve this dispute,” states the union’s regional officer, Zoe Mayou. “It is the council that bears the responsibility.”
But whilst Unite is open to negotiations, the council has shown that they are only interested in following the diktats of the ruling class.
Rather than compromises, we can expect only further attacks, while those in Westminster look on with wry smiles and empty platitudes.
The trade unions must utilise their full potential strength, and mobilise other council workers in defence of their livelihoods. A mass campaign of collective, united action by workers and residents could quickly force the council’s hand.
To truly go on the offensive, this struggle needs a bold political programme that takes a militant, socialist stand against austerity.
Such a programme could rally working-class communities across Birmingham, who are already feeling the squeeze, and turn a local strike into a broader fightback.
Solidarity with the strike! Bin the council bureaucrats!
