A large turnout of between 50 to 60 striking bin workers were present at Perry Barr picket line on 17^th July reported Ian Leech. The mood remains resolute with anger being directed at the council and local management. Bob Severn at Tyseley and Clive Walder at Lifford Lane where pickets numbered between 30-40, reported the same.

Many strikers explained that, in sharp contrast to previous strike action, they had received verbal support from the public. This was added to by the Convenor’s report that informed that email support had also been received by Unite offices. Click here for Socialist Party strike bulletins and public info flyers that have been distributed during the dispute.

Strikers at Perry Barr

Management have stepped up dirty tricks and strike breaking from recruiting expensive agency staff and ‘partners’ to clear up rubbish left by the strike and sending letters to individual workers about a confidential hotline to encourage those scared by the threat of job loss to jump ship and weaken the entire workforce. These tactics from management—more akin to Thatcher against the miners than to Jeremy Corbyn– while they were supposed to be talking to the Union!

They could of course, stop the imposition of their lousy plan, let bin workers go back to work and save money as a result!

It’s no wonder there is a deteriorating relationship between local management and bin workers. Strikers informed the Socialist that they wished it made known that this dispute isn’t about chasing more money. It is about cuts that are leading to attacks on terms and conditions, changes in work practices and reduced Health and Safety standards.

The use of strikebreaking ‘partners’ raised in many workers minds that the council were trying to batter their conditions to get the service ready for privatisation.

A striking bin worker at Lifford Lane exposed the truth about the strike breaking operation taking place at weekends. They indeed did have 52 crews out but many were only using street cleaning lorries which hold much less than a bin wagon and have no equipment to lift a wheelie bin and empty its contents! All they can do is to pick up bags of rubbish not in wheelie bins. This was confirmed by tweets accompanying the Birmingham Mail article where angry residents were denouncing the council’s claim of clearing the backlog as a sham.

He also said that they are being told to mix recycling and non-recycling waste which is apparently against EU regulations and which also means that they are losing the revenue that would be accrued for recycling materials and pay extra to send it to landfill. They are therefore spending money to break the strike, losing revenue and incurring extra charges! Not to mention undermining their ‘green’ credentials

Towards the end of the stoppage at Perry Barr the Unite Rep called the strikers together for an update. He said the dispute remains solid across the city and that Unite would not suspend any action until they agree with a written submission from the employer. He went onto explain that, in addition to the 2 hour strikes every day until the end of July, an additional daily one hour stoppage during the lunch break would take place where staff would book keys etc back in and clock out, thus raising the level of disruption. This was met with cheers and laughter from the strikers.

In addition, the Convenor reported that Unison were now balloting its members and that Unite were now balloting its membership amongst Street cleaning teams.

This showed the importance of keeping information flowing. We hope our bulletin has helped a bit in this, but if management are going to target individual workers, then the strike will need to overcome any sense of isolation they may feel, and to keep confidence high. Regular reps meetings and reports definitely help in that. Mass meetings, we believe would also help bind workers together and counter any sense of isolation.

Some strikers discussed approaching local MPs and Councillors about the dispute.

This led to a discussion on the current state of the Labour Party where it was suggested that Corbyn’s leadership and the ‘crew in Birmingham City Council’ were totally different. “They are all Blairites in the Council here”.

May’s Tories are weak and divided. Why is Birmingham Labour continuing to cut services?

The answer to this lies in the Socialist Party’s description of Labour as “two parties in one”. On the one hand Jeremy Corbyn has called Austerity “a political choice” and has campaigned against local authority cuts, but the reality ‘on the ground’ is that local councils are controlled by Labour groups loyal to former leader Tony Blair and his acolytes the “Blairites” who dominate areas like the West Midlands.

For a generation Labour Councillors have claimed they’re against cuts whilst at the same time carrying them out. This process speeded up with the Banking crisis of 2007-8 and the introduction of Tory Austerity.

The Socialist Party (previously Militant) has consistently argued that councils should lead a public campaign for more money from the Tories by setting budgets based on local service needs and refusing to make any cuts as Liverpool City Council did in 1983-87.

In order to ensure that representatives such as MP’s and Councillors are more accountable to the grassroots of the party, we’ve argued that Jeremy Corbyn needs to ensure that decision making is put in the hands of the local members through a mandatory reselection process. This way, local community members of the Labour Party can try to ensure that their voices are heard through their public representatives.