“If Labour councils won’t fight the cuts, then we will, by standing shoulder to shoulder with our unions and communities, even when that means confronting Labour councils themselves.”
By Oliver Jones
On the morning of Thursday 8th January, Labour members blockaded the Perry Barr bin depot in solidarity with striking bin workers. The protest demanded that Birmingham City Council, and its leader John Cotton, meet the workers’ demands and stop efforts to break the strike. Protesters held a banner reading: “Labour members for the bin strikers – tax the rich to fund public services”.
Birmingham bin workers have been on strike since March 2025 against the City Council’s plan to abolish Waste Recycling and Collection Officer roles. The changes would mean pay cuts of up to £8,000 a year for 150 workers, with no firm guarantee that a further 200 drivers would not be protected from future pay cuts. The council is run by the Labour Party, which holds a majority and is directly accountable for the dispute.
Labour members are calling on John Cotton and Birmingham City Council to return to negotiations with Unite and meet the bin workers’ demands in full, and end attempts to break the strike, including the use of agency labour and legal injunctions. The action comes after 115 Labour councillors and MPs publicly called on Birmingham City Council to settle the Birmingham bins dispute.
Throughout the dispute, John Cotton and Birmingham Labour Party’s leadership have acted with arrogance and hostility toward their own workforce. Strike-breaking tactics are incompatible with the values the Labour party was founded on. Birmingham is not alone: across the country, Labour-run councils are implementing sweeping cuts while claiming there is “no alternative.” But Labour holds power nationally. Instead of attacking workers, councils should be mobilising to demand Starmer’s government restore local government budgets.
Labour members do not have long to turn the party around. Polling indicates that Reform is on track to sweep council elections, with Nigel Farage promising Musk-style “DOGE” cuts in Reform-run authorities. By pre-emptively cutting services and attacking workers, Labour councillors are clearing the ground for the far-right and doing their work for them.
Robin Taylor, a Labour member said: “It’s shameful that the Labour council and government I voted for are engaging in obvious union busting and attacks against the bin workers. Binnies do an essential job, and deserve safe working conditions without forced pay cuts or redundancies.”
Protesters warned that further pressure would follow and called on Labour members not to remain silent but to stand with the bin workers. A Labour member involved in the action said: “If Labour councils won’t fight the cuts, then we will, by standing shoulder to shoulder with our unions and communities, even when that means confronting Labour councils themselves.”
Following the Megapicket in solidarity with Birmingham bin strikers on 9 May, which shut down Lifford Lane, and Megapicket II on 25 July, which closed all five sites across Birmingham and Coventry, Strike Map is now organising Megapicket 3-D, targeting all sites on 30 January 2026.
- On January 30 a Megapicket in solidarity with the Birmingham Bin Strikers will be targeting five depots across Birmingham and Coventry. Find out how you can take part here.
- You can followStrike Map onFacebook,Instagram andTwitter/X.
