Waste depots in Birmingham were shut down by a third Megapicket in solidarity with council bin workers. Their dispute is entering its second year after the first walk-out on 6 January 2025; they have been all-out since March.
In May the bosses’ courts delivered an injunction on strikers to stop them confronting the bin lorries going out of the yards, forcing them to stand on the other side of the road and watch while the scab crews drive by. But this tactic, meant to isolate the strikers, backfired as a massive solidarity movement took off.
Trade union and socialist activists came from across Britain to support the strikers in an escalation of the action. We won a hands-down victory as the council threw in the towel and closed all the depots for the day. The action still went ahead from 5am onwards just in case, but with a more relaxed air as strikers and supporters celebrated their victory.
And celebrate we did. Sound systems at Perry Barr, Atlas and Smithfield depots blared out rebel anthems from across the ages. The strikers lined up opposite the entrance at Perry Barr – black and white unite and fight, multicultural for all to see. A significant minority were deeply engaged with the political leadership of the dispute, demanding its escalation to other sections and councils.
On the other side activists from Cardiff to Leeds, Manchester to Brighton loudly chanted, cheered and danced. At least half the picket, though, was from surrounding areas, Coventry, Wolverhampton, Walsall.
The Green Party was prominent and guest speaker Zack Polanski slammed ‘a political class poisoned by extreme wealth’ and promised to ‘bring down your bills, cut the cost of living and protect our NHS’. But, maybe remembering the bitter 2021 bin strike against the Green-led Brighton Council in 2021, Polanski failed to say how the Greens would resolve the dispute.
Force Labour to conceded
The bankrupt Labour council is trying to dig its way out of the £3.35 billion debt pile, but most of this is owed to the Treasury. But Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves refuse to cancel the debts, leading the strikers to strike up a well-deserved chorus of ‘Keir Starmer’s a wanker’ from time to time.
The result has been deep cuts, a sell-off spree including parks and community centres, and attacks on workers’ jobs and conditions. For the bin workers this has meant massive cuts in grading and wages – up to £8,000 a year. In one case, a couple are losing nearly £20,000, both being refuse collectors.
The 350 bin workers organised in Unite the union have been rock-solid, refusing to give in. Council bosses have gotten so desperate and vicious, even the agency workers employed to scab have had enough of the bullying, intimidation and heavy workloads. They joined the strike in December – but only for one day. That needs further escalation.
‘We shut the gates!’
Strikemap, the grassroots strikers’ network, went from an online info site to organising real-world action with the first Megapicket. With the support of national unions and union leaders, several hundred activists and Unite organisers responded to the call as well as other workers in dispute like the Gloucestershire NHS Phlebotomist.
Lifford Lane depot was blocked on 9 May. It was so successful that a second Megapicket was called in July, closing down all four sites plus one in Coventry used for scabbing. Since then a regular corps of activists from local unions, the community and the left have regularly targeted the depots to block or slow the wagons going out. The council has spent £34 million so far on trying to break the strike, to no effect.
As the strike passed its one year anniversary, Megapicket 3-D was organised to show that the movement would continue until the workers won. Strike Map co-founder Henry Fowler spoke for everyone when he said, ‘Our Megapickets are growing with every action we take. We want to be absolutely clear: we will be back again, and again, and again until these workers win. We stand with the Birmingham bin strikers.’
Labour strikes back
Unite is pursuing a fire-and-rehire court case against the council, but given the strike’s prominence the government and council could dig in to avoid a victory. In any case we shouldn’t rely on the bosses’ courts – which have ruled against the strikers every time so far.
Meanwhile the union is threatening Labour with the council elections where they face being punished by voter anger over council mismanagement, cuts and council tax hikes of over 20%, with a campaign for non-payment bubbling away in the background. However Reform is leading at least in the majority of Birmingham’s ten parliamentary constituencies for general election polling, and with all 101 council seats up for grabs in May, if Reform emerges in control they will not be any better on strikers or cuts.
Now the Labour council has struck back, applying on 3 February for a high court injunction, ‘prohibiting protesting activities by persons unknown who, in support of strikes organised by Unite the Union (‘Unite’) and without the council’s consent: Enter, occupy or remain on, or block or obstruct the entering or exiting of any other individual or vehicle’ from the four bin depots, threatening fines or even prison sentences up to two years.
This is an outrageous, anti-union action by a desperate council that deserves to be swept from power. Strikemap, Unite and union leaders from the firefighters FBU to train drivers ASLEF unions have condemned this and insisted that solidarity will continue.
The next response should be another megapicket, called by all the trade unions and organising coachloads of workers and activists to attend, but it is now clear that the bin workers need to discuss how to win their strike and take control of it.
Spread the strike to win
The best way to ensure the strike wins, the council backs down from cuts and the Labour government cancels the city’s debts is to spread it to the rest of the council. So far other sections organised by the GMB and Unison, even some Unite workers have been kept out of the fight.
In particular street cleaners, who use the same depot at Perry Barr, have been downgraded from Scale 3 to 2, and are next in line. Many we spoke to, who didn’t realise that the depot was closed and came to work, think it is completely wrong that they aren’t striking and want to join in, knowing it’s the surest way to save their income.
The recent victory of Andrea Egan, the new left-wing and pro-strike Unison General Secretary, could be a game changer. Unison activists must insist she break the logjam and ballot Unison members in Birmingham City Council for strike action over the further threat of cuts in the coming budget. Opening a second front would reignite the fire and strategically prove more effective than the Megapickets.
In fact, as many council workforces as possible should ballot for strike action against the cuts this year. Labour is in a crisis, both internally and with the wider public. They have been forced into U-turns before. Forcing them to fund local services by taxing the rich would be their biggest about-face of them all. But why not?
If the strike movement spreads and widens, it could hold a workers’ assembly to debate standing genuine working class candidates against and endorse those to replace Labour, rather than having to pick from the various reactionary, liberal or non-working class alternatives, Greens included.
Megapicket 3-D was another blow to Birmingham council’s plans, driven by the hopes and determination of strikers and solidarity activists alike aiming to put Labour on the ropes and block the cuts. The council has rallied for a last gasp bid to ban all solidarity and end the strike on its terms, but if bin workers and other activists in the council unions spread the strike widely and quickly enough, combined with a solidarity movement they can deliver the knock-out blow.
