Chancellor Campaigned for Union-Backed Bin Strikers as Parliamentary Candidate – Guido Fawkes

Chancellor Campaigned for Union-Backed Bin Strikers as Parliamentary Candidate

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The Chancellor has stayed strangely quiet during the 44-day Birmingham bin strike. No tweets, nothing…

When she was a young PPC in late 2009 (after telling local party members she was an ‘economist’ at at Halifax Bank of Scotland) Reeves campaigned fervently for strikers during a comparable local bin dispute. An equal pay claim in Leeds led to a partial loss of salary for some binmen in Leeds. The strike went on for a whopping twelve weeks – prompting serious hygiene concerns. Exactly the same situation as in Birmingham…

The current strike has been going on for only six weeks and back then Leeds’ Tory-LibDem-controlled city council was able at the time to pay for private cover to help with bin collection. At the time Reeves backed the strikers – writing in The Guardian:

“Refuse collectors in Leeds did not resort to strike action lightly, but because they saw their income and livelihood threatened… Leeds will not stand for unjust cuts in wages motivated by a gross distortion of equal-pay legislation.”

After the council backed down to GMB, Unison, and Unite Reeves hailed the success of its strategy – “A victory for common sense and fairness.” Reeves was happy to tweet frequently about that one:

arguing with lib dem ppc about public sector workers – he reckons low paid bin men in leeds are inefficient – pay cut justified.nice…

— Rachel Reeves (@RachelReevesMP) December 9, 2009

With bin strikes threatening to spread across the country for the exact same reasons as in Leeds and Birmingham Reeves’ record is firmly on the side of bullying union chiefs. Who are now empowered by Rayner’s employment rights bill – gulp…