We stand in solidarity with the Birmingham bin workers, who have been striking against brutal pay cuts and worsening conditions; their experience in the recent round of defensive strikes highlights the valuable lessons we can learn when fighting back against austerity and exploitation.
Since March 2025, bin workers in Birmingham have been taking official strike action in response to proposed cuts to their pay and working conditions. The dispute began after Birmingham City Council (BCC) announced in January 2025, plans to reduce the workers’ annual pay by £8,000.
Unite, the union responsible for initiating the indefinite strike, stated that around 150 workers are facing this downgrade in pay, as the role of Naste Recycling Collection Officer (WRCO) is set to be scrapped.
This strike adds to a recent spike in British industrial action, wherein workers from different sectors are choosing to fight back against their deepening exploitation; with bin workers in Birmingham and Sheffield, baggage handlers at Gatwick Airport, and train drivers throughout Britain, all showing the effectiveness of strike action.
On September 20, 2025, Unite organised a march through the centre of Birmingham to garner support for the strike. An early start, paired with a tranquil route, making its way around mostly empty student accommodation, composed mainly of bin workers, Unite leaders, supportive members of the public, and a few individuals representing left-wing organisations.
The march was finalised with speeches from Unite representatives, such as the strike leader, Mike Masters, who spoke passionately about this struggle being formed of ‘the exploited against the exploiters’, and General Secretary, Sharon Graham, who proclaimed Unite stands ‘shoulder to shoulder’ with the workers.
As Sharon continued with specious claims of historic and continued support from Unite leadership, one look back to 2017 shows us that it was the political compromise of Unite’s leadership that laid the groundwork for this current dispute.
Unite agreed to a deal with BCC that scrapped the ‘Leading Hands’ role, a position for workers operating at the back of refuse lorries, that ensured safe practices by guiding lorry drivers, and supervising colleagues while emptying waste from bins.
Unite discouraged pickets, forcing workers to reapply for lower-paid jobs, and settle for the current WRCO role, which was guaranteed temporarily until February 2019.
The recent talk of Unite disaffiliating from Labour points in the right direction, but only by raising the level of working-class struggle can we ensure that no further reformist manoeuvres undermine workers’ battles.
These events have culminated in what we’re seeing today: bin workers defending their salary against austerity, implemented by both a Labour government and council, that are intent on deepening the exploitation of the working class.
We fully support the Birmingham bin workers, and all those defensive strikes, that not only try to improve the conditions of the workers, but also attempt to shift the balance of class struggle in Britain.
After years of austerity, deteriorating conditions, and soaring inflation, imposed on the working class by successive governments, the resurgence of industrial action in Britain is not just welcome; it is absolutely essential. And for this reason, we must not treat these strikes as occasions for self-congratulation, but as lessons.
Each dispute shows us both the strength of workers’ action and the limits of fragmented struggles. Our task is to learn how to build upon them: to organise more effectively, to broaden support, and to multiply such actions across sectors and cities.
Most importantly, we must connect these vanguards of the working class and make their efforts catalysts for further, intensified struggle. Only by doing so can we transform defensive fights into an offensive movement capable of breaking not only austerity, but exploitation at its root.