A LIVELY picket of 200 bin men, came out in support of the bin strikers in Birmingham yesterday morning, marking one year of the dispute.
This dispute is over an £8,000 cut to the bin men’s wages by the Labour Birmingham City Council.
They were chanting: ‘Union power union power. ‘When workers are under attack, stand up fight back. ‘Unite unite, stand up and we fight.’
Dean Harris, Unite Rep at Atlas Depot, told News Line: ‘Today marks the one year anniversary since bin strike started. This is to show that we are all together.
‘We have other depots like Lifford and Perry Barr, that have come out.
‘It’s been a year and we are not giving up. We are, not going anywhere, and this is a message to Birmingham City council to get back round the table and negotiate with us.
‘We get tremendous support from the public since the strikes and the support has been amazing.
‘Students, have put boards outside their homes in support for the strikes.
‘You would think, that after their rubbish has not been collected, they would be frustrated. But they still continue to support the strikes.
‘If we don’t get a good deal, we will continue to stay out, for as long as it takes.
‘May 9th, is the 100th year anniversary, of the 1926 general strike. Everyone in the country needs to come out.
‘I think unite, need to fight in the TUC for a general strike in 2026.’
Bin man Deano Marshall said: ‘We have had, three strikes over pay cuts. Within 6 years I have lost a lot of money, about more than £8,000.
‘We built that back then, 8 years later the economy is changing, with inflation going up.
‘The government is not supporting us, so we will continue to strike, until our demands for our wages not to be cut are met.’
Another bin man Luke Sampson added: ‘I am an agency worker, that was brought in to break the strikes.
‘We are fighting for equal rights for everyone. The council must reverse the pay cuts for full timers.’