Back bench Labour councillors in Birmingham have condemned their own leaders in a letter demanding that the council leaders “step back” from confrontation with two unions.
The protesting councillors include several senior figures such as former council leader Albert Bore.
The letter adds to pressure on present council leader Ian Ward and his deputy Brigid Jones, coming three days after the Regional Labour Party Board voted overwhelmingly in favour of a motion calling for Labour’s NEC to investigate their conduct of the continuing disputes with Unite and Unison.
Striking refuse workers (members of Unite) are facing legal action by the Labour authority while Unison home care workers are also in dispute over cuts in hours and pay.
The last straw for many Labour councillors came in December when the Unison home care workers tried to deliver a card to Ward and were locked out of the Council House. The unedifying spectacle of low-paid women trade unionists being kept out of the Council’s HQ was the final straw for many Labour councillors.
A letter signed by 23 Labour councillors asked the leadership to drop legal action against Unite and to end the 15-month dispute with the care workers.
The Birmingham council leadership claims Unite’s action is illegal and plans to go to the High Court, using the Tory anti-union legislation to stop the strike.
Writing to council leader Ian Ward, the back bench Labour signatories called on him to drop the legal action which they describe as “misconceived and counter-productive”.
Ward has ignored the plea, resulting in the Labour group’s chief whip, councillor Kerry Jenkins, resigning saying she “cannot, in good conscience, whip for policies and decisions that are anti-trade union policies and I will not support them”. Prior to this, Labour’s bins chief Majid Mahmood had resigned over the council’s anti-union stance.
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More than 300 refuse workers picketed at four depot sites on Tuesday in what Unite’s Howard Beckett described as “a last resort” after six weeks of talks collapsed.
They are striking today (Friday) against payments that were made to members of the GMB who did not take part in the 2017 strike (the GMB’s statement on this is here).
It is clear that the present council leadership has no idea of how collective bargaining works, no understanding of basic trade unionism and no grasp of Labour’s links with the trade union movement.
Abridged version of the Labour members’ letter to City Council leader Ian Ward:
As members of Birmingham City Council’s ruling Labour Group we are deeply concerned at the position of the council in relation to the present industrial disputes being followed by members of Unite and Unison.
The current industrial action being pursued by waste management workers is the latest round of poor industrial relations in the local authority.
The people of Birmingham are best served by a city council that that works in partnership with its workforce to deliver exceptional public services. We believe there is an urgent need to change the approach being taken by senior council officers in conjunction with the cabinet.
The fact that the authority is reaching for Tory anti-union legislation which the Labour Party is committed to replacing with a new framework of workers’ rights and collective bargaining only exacerbates the situation.
At the same time it is apparent that the council is on the verge of seeking to impose settlement terms on the enablement service staff [the Unison home care workers – JD] having failed over a 15-month period to resolve the dispute where low-paid workers face dramatic pay cuts. These approaches are neither necessary nor desirable.
We believe that there is a wider issue of governance that is highlighted by the approach that is being taken to the various industrial disputes which the council currently faces.
It is our belief that in Birmingham the elected councillors are not setting the agenda which gives rise to the current state of affairs.
It is apparent to us from the content and tenor of the reports that are being brought forward to the executive in relation to the current industrial disputes that senior officers are being allowed to drive a particular approach to industrial relations which gives rise to confrontation and disharmony.
In making this statement we are calling on the leader, cabinet and wider Labour Group of Birmingham City Council to immediately step back from the current approach to the on-going industrial disputes and to reset the relationship with the workforce and their trade union representatives.
Cllr Albert Bore
Cllr Mike Leddy
Cllr Majid Mahmood
Cllr Kerry Jenkins
& 19 other Labour councillors
Shiraz Socialist (Second Run) 