Why we should Express Solidarity with the Birmingham Bin Strikers
Imagine being called into your manager’s office and told that your role is changing—accompanied by an £8,000 pay cut.
Imagine being called into your manager’s office and told that your role is changing—accompanied by an £8,000 pay cut. This, during a period where the cost of living is soaring and wages have stagnated for 15 years. This is the reality facing refuse workers in Birmingham today.
The Injustice of the Pay Cuts
Birmingham City Council claims only 17 refuse workers—specifically ‘leading hands’, who are HGV drivers with supervisory duties—are affected by the proposed cut. However, Unite the Union estimates the real number is closer to 170. The union has warned that removing these roles has already led to safety risks in places like Coventry.
The council says the cuts will save £136,000 annually. Yet this is a small sum when compared with the staggering financial crisis facing the council, which recently declared effective bankruptcy under a Section 114 notice.
One major driver was a long-standing equal pay liability now totalling over £760 million. This crisis stems from a failure to correct historic pay discrimination—rooted in Conservative-led policies and compounded by Labour's mishandling of a new Oracle IT system meant to improve HR and payroll management, which instead caused severe delays and overspending (BBC News, 2025). Meanwhile, the TaxPayers’ Alliance (2023) reports that 13 Birmingham council executives earn over £100,000 annually. Frontline staff are being penalised for systemic financial failures they had no hand in creating.
Austerity- The Backdrop of Industrial Action
The current crisis cannot be separated from over a decade of austerity policies initiated by former Chancellor George Osborne. In 2010, Osborne's Spending Review imposed cuts of over 60% to central government grants for local authorities (Innes and Tetlow, 2015). Birmingham, as one of the most deprived cities in the UK, was hit disproportionately hard. Further, central government imposed conditions on how councils could allocate remaining funds, especially through ring-fencing, thereby limiting local democratic control and decision-making power.
These policies gutted public services and left councils with the unenviable choice of cutting core services or breaching budget rules. In this context, the attack on bin workers’ pay is not just about mismanagement—it is a legacy of Westminster-imposed constraints.
Wealth inequality is why strikes matter
Simultaneously, wealth inequality has surged. The Office for National Statistics (2023) reports that the top 10% of households now control 43% of the UK's wealth. Economist Gary Stevenson argues that post-COVID, the richest increased their wealth while the bottom half saw real-terms decline, setting the stage for widespread frustration and industrial action (Stevenson, 2020). The Birmingham bin strike is not an isolated event—it is a symptom of this larger system of inequality and underinvestment. People have become desperate, with 1 in 4 children in poverty and millions of families on the breadline; Unions are their lifeline to their next meal.
Watch Gary Stevenson Explain how Generating wealth inequality stifles government wealth
The Lifeline of Trade Unions
Despite decades of political rhetoric framing them as obstructive, trade unions remain essential to defending worker rights—especially under economic strain. Academic research continues to highlight their role in protecting workplace safety, fair pay and collective bargaining (McIvor, 2021).
Unions are more than just protective mechanisms; they are democratically accountable institutions that advocate for dignity and fairness in the workplace. The TUC has also stressed the need for strong union rights in post-Brexit Britain to prevent a race to the bottom (Ortino, 2022).
Closing Thought: Whose Ransom Is It, Really?
There’s a glaring double standard in how economic resistance is portrayed. When billionaires threaten to leave the country to avoid tax, it's called “economic realism.” But when workers strike to protect their livelihoods, they are accused of holding the city to ransom.
This strike is not about greed. It’s about survival, dignity, and fairness in a system that continues to punish the many to protect the few. Solidarity with the Birmingham bin strikers is solidarity with all who are being squeezed by inequality, mismanagement and austerity.