Unite union chief Len McCluskey is set to join a rally in support of Birmingham’s striking binmen in the city centre this weekend.
The head of Britain’s largest trade union will speak at the rally in Victoria Square on Sunday.
And comes after the national Trades Union Congress agreed a motion condemning the city council for backtracking on the deal struck with Unite and arbitration service ACAS by former council leader John Clancy last month.
The council leader resigned earlier this over his handling of the dispute after it was found he had not secured the backing of his cabinet or senior officers, while ignoring legal advice, in making the deal which handed victory to the binmen.
The row surrounds 113 binmen whose face either being either downgraded with a loss of £4,000 a year pay, moved to another council department or made redundant. They were served with redundancy notices on September 1 , prompting further strike action. Unite is seeking an injunction against the redundancies and go to the High Court on Thursday.
Binmen are also being balloted to extend the dispute and strike action beyond September if necessary.
Unite’s assistant general secretary Howard Beckett , who has been leading talks for the binmen, put forward the motion to the TUC which called for ACAS negotiated deals to be honoured by employers.
He blames council chief executive Stella Manzie for pulling the plug on the Clancy deal and has repeatedly called for her to step down.
He told the TUC conference: “Stella Manzie is wedded to austerity. She is a Tory. She is wedded to a course that will allow her to follow these cuts in grades with more cuts cross the council.
“The strike will continue because our members have something deep inside that the likes of Stella Manzie will never have. They have a strength from each other. They know that every x is a dagger to Manzie.
“Unite’s call to all the Labour councillors is ‘look deep inside remember why Labour matters, be proud of your role, stand up for workers, protect their wages, be brave, be true to our class’. I say to them take these brave decisions for our class, honour the ACAS deal.”
The motion passed by the TUC stated: Congress records that the integrity of ACAS must be respected by employers and agreements struck at ACAS must be considered legally binding. The dangerous precedent of employers being able to break ACAS agreements would only lead to industrial action.
Birmingham’s City Council’s interim leader Ian Ward yesterday called on Mr Beckett to get around the table for proper talks and urged him to stop the ‘wholly inappropriate’ attacks on Ms Manzie .
Protesters are urged to assemble for the rally at 11am, speaches will begin at noon.
