Councillor Majid Mahmood has resigned as Birmingham City Council (BCC) head of waste management in a move that will pile pressure on BCC over the long-running bins dispute.
Unison and Unite members among the city’s refuse collectors have been engaged in industrial action over a ‘secret’ payment to GMB members who did not participate in the successful 2017 strike over redundancies threatened by BCC after the council had already agreed a deal with unions.
The leader of the council resigned after BCC’s bad faith in the 2017 dispute was exclusively revealed by the SKWAWKBOX.
Earlier today, unions said they would move to full strike action after the ‘declaration of war’ by the council on its own workforce. Unite deputy general secretary Howard Beckett said:
They have made a declaration of war against their own workforce and the people of Birmingham will be affected by the decision they made today. The dispute will be escalating to a full strike.
Howard Beckett
Mahmood’s shock resignation came soon after, with the councillor stating:
I am not going to be party to a Labour council using Tory legislation to attack bin workers, our brothers and sisters in the union movement.
SKWAWKBOX comment:
The SKWAWKBOX congratulates Cllr Mahmood on his principled action and offers its full support to Unite and Unison members in their resistance to the unjustifiable actions of BCC.
BCC had an opportunity to avert or at least postpone the industrial action by answering a letter from Unite’s lawyers well over a month ago, but opted instead to ignore it. The people of Birmingham need to know that a right-dominated council bears responsibility for the unpleasant impact this situation will inevitably have on their city.
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I may be misunderstanding but I am at a loss wondering how resigning helps the workers/unions in their fight though. What can he do from outside the council/post and how does his resignation help the cause of bin workers?
It has brought far more attention to the issue and the council’s behaviour than he could have from inside – and his hands are now freed to say what he thinks and reveal what he knows
I look forward to his revelations hope that his actions helps the workers cause even more than he could have done in his post.
I am concerned about possible reach of the implied gagging though.