Labour’s £120k Industry Minister has told striking workers to take a pay cut. In other words: ‘Let them lose pay’ says Labour. Is it still the party of the workers?
Refuse workers in Birmingham are on strike – not for more money, not for perks, but because the city council wants to cut up to £8,000 a year from their pay by removing a vital role — the Waste Recycling and Collection Officer (WRCO).
Unite the Union says 97 per cent of its members rejected the council’s so-called “offer.” Why? Because it doesn’t address the core issue: workers losing significant chunks of their wages for doing the same job under a different title.
It’s a classic austerity play — rebrand, restructure, reduce pay. It could even be branded “fire and rehire” – and Labour is supposed to be abolishing that!
And what’s Labour’s response? Not support, not solidarity, not even silence.
Instead, Labour’s Industry Minister Sarah Jones [pictured, inset], who earns more than £120,000 a year and has just received a 2.8 per cent pay rise, has demanded that Unite should call off the strike and accept the deal. In other words: “take the cut, clean the streets, and stop causing a fuss.”
It’s hard to square that with the idea of Labour as the “party of the workers.”
When low-paid employees are being asked to swallow thousands in lost income, while MPs collect safe pay rises and wag the finger at those who resist — that’s not representation. That’s condescension.
And let’s be clear: this crisis didn’t fall out of the sky.
Birmingham’s financial meltdown is rooted in a decade of political mismanagement, dating back to a Conservative-led failure to pay women properly, resulting in crippling equal pay claims.
Successive administrations have struggled to stay afloat — but instead of holding the powerful to account, Labour is leaning on the lowest-paid to make up the difference.
We’re now watching refuse collectors — people who kept cities moving during the pandemic — being scapegoated for a public health crisis that politicians created.
While vermin infestations and piles of waste mount, the solution being pushed isn’t negotiation. It’s capitulation.
So we have to ask: is this what Labour stands for now?
What’s on display here isn’t just bad judgement — it’s entitlement; a political class living comfortably, speaking down to workers, and expecting applause for doing it.
This isn’t solidarity.
It’s aristocracy in red rosettes.
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‘Let them lose pay’ says Labour. Is it still the party of the workers?
Labour’s £120k Industry Minister has told striking workers to take a pay cut. In other words: ‘Let them lose pay’ says Labour. Is it still the party of the workers?
Refuse workers in Birmingham are on strike – not for more money, not for perks, but because the city council wants to cut up to £8,000 a year from their pay by removing a vital role — the Waste Recycling and Collection Officer (WRCO).
Unite the Union says 97 per cent of its members rejected the council’s so-called “offer.” Why? Because it doesn’t address the core issue: workers losing significant chunks of their wages for doing the same job under a different title.
It’s a classic austerity play — rebrand, restructure, reduce pay. It could even be branded “fire and rehire” – and Labour is supposed to be abolishing that!
And what’s Labour’s response? Not support, not solidarity, not even silence.
Instead, Labour’s Industry Minister Sarah Jones [pictured, inset], who earns more than £120,000 a year and has just received a 2.8 per cent pay rise, has demanded that Unite should call off the strike and accept the deal. In other words: “take the cut, clean the streets, and stop causing a fuss.”
It’s hard to square that with the idea of Labour as the “party of the workers.”
When low-paid employees are being asked to swallow thousands in lost income, while MPs collect safe pay rises and wag the finger at those who resist — that’s not representation. That’s condescension.
And let’s be clear: this crisis didn’t fall out of the sky.
Birmingham’s financial meltdown is rooted in a decade of political mismanagement, dating back to a Conservative-led failure to pay women properly, resulting in crippling equal pay claims.
Successive administrations have struggled to stay afloat — but instead of holding the powerful to account, Labour is leaning on the lowest-paid to make up the difference.
We’re now watching refuse collectors — people who kept cities moving during the pandemic — being scapegoated for a public health crisis that politicians created.
While vermin infestations and piles of waste mount, the solution being pushed isn’t negotiation. It’s capitulation.
So we have to ask: is this what Labour stands for now?
What’s on display here isn’t just bad judgement — it’s entitlement; a political class living comfortably, speaking down to workers, and expecting applause for doing it.
This isn’t solidarity.
It’s aristocracy in red rosettes.
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