Unite for a Workers' Economy
The economy is not working for working people
Join Britain and Ireland’s biggest union as it focuses on building popular, working-class power to change the system
From workplace to community, the Unite for a Workers’ Economy campaign is driving a UK-wide strategy to help bring change following the failure of politicians to act. With the aim of collective action, the union wants to drive this country’s political agenda instead of commenting on it. These are campaigns that organise communities - led by people for the people.
Join the Unite campaign updates group on WhatsApp
One year on - backing Birmingham's refuse workers
Hundreds of Birmingham refuse workers have been on strike for over 12 months against pay cuts of up to £8,000. The Labour-run council is effectively "firing and rehiring" loaders and drivers and has now carried out the threat of compulsory redundancies. Birmingham City Councillors need to show up and deliver. They need to end the bin strike - or they will be held accountable in May.
Send a message to your local councillors today: Labour stop attacking Brum bin workers!
Thanks for joining the mass rally on Monday 1 December
A mass rally in support of Birmingham bin workers on the first day of strike action by agency workers employed by Job & Talent took place in Birmingham on Monday 1 December 2025.
In an unprecedented development, workers directly employed by Birmingham council have now been joined on picket lines by agency workers employed by Job & Talent on the refuse contract. The Job & Talent workers voted in favour of strike action over bullying, harassment and the threat of blacklisting at the council’s refuse department two weeks ago.
The strikes, over fire and rehire pay cuts of up to £8,000, by directly employed bin workers, have been running since January and could continue beyond May’s local elections.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Instead of wasting millions more of council taxpayers’ money fighting a dispute it could settle justly for a fraction of the cost, the council needs to return to talks with Unite and put forward a fair deal for all bin workers. Strikes will not end until it does.”
Back Birmingham's bin workers
Unite Action Newsletter #7 | Vote YES in the ballot
You will soon be receiving a ballot paper in the post. It is vital that you take part and VOTE YES. We need to re–ballot to continue to make sure that you are legally protected. Both BCC and agency members will be reballoted. We are fighting hard for all members: permanent and agencv, we are all together. Download Unite Action Newsletter #7
Unite Action Newsletter #6
Labour’s running scared – now let’s push to win. It’s time to escalate and win. New year, new beginning. This is the ideal moment for a big push to win the strike. Why? Because now the politicians have shaken off their Christmas hangovers, and their eyes are all on one thing: the May council elections. Labour knows they’re deep in the proverbial. Across Birmingham, they’re out canvassing now every day, running around trying to save their seats. And they’re rightly worried.
Read the Unite Action Newsletter #06.
Unite Action Newsletter #5
Agency strike begins… and Job&Talent shut down all 3 depots for us! On Monday 1st December, Job&Talent workers came out on official strike. So now we have two official strikes. Drivers and loaders employed by the council, still fighting cuts to pay. And now joined by Job&Talent employees, who are sick and tired of bullying, unsafe conditions, and blacklisting. And of waiting years on empty promises of permanent jobs.
Read the Unite Action Newsletter #05.
Unite Action Newsletter #4
First they tried to take £8,000 a year from WRCOs’ wages. Then they did the same to the drivers. Then they bullied and overworked the agency workers they relied on to keep collecting the bins. Now we’ve all had enough! Join the rally on Monday 1 December 2025 from 08:30 at Smithfield (B5 6HX). The strength and determination of council workers, and now agency workers, means that management has nowhere left to hide. Enough is Enough. It’s time to stand together and win permanent jobs and good conditions.
Download and share the Unite Action Newsletter #04 and join us on the morning of 1 December.
Unite Action Newsletter #3
As momentum builds … management is already backing down! More agency staff are joining Unite every day. You can join the union, and the strike, at any time. It doesn’t matter whether you voted in the ballot or not: you will still have full legal protection.
Collective action works! Managers are desperate because they can’t cover routes, so they are ready to make concessions. We shouldn’t have to strike to get better treatment, but clearly the ballot is having an effect. Read the Unite Action Newsletter #03.
Unite Action Newsletter #2
Every day, more agency workers are joining the union! The council is having to cancel more routes. The pressure is building. It’s building in the media too. Our ballot hit the headlines last week, including the BBC and ITV, local and national newspapers. And the campaign is growing in our communities. Unite organisers have knocked on over 15,000 doors and talked to over 6,000 Birmingham households. Over 90% support striking bin workers. Everyday mosques, churches, community groups, and businesses are signing Unite’s “Pledge” to support the strike. Now we’ll be campaigning for agency workers too. Because, for the first time, agency workers are coming out to fight for their rights. The managers are running scared: we can win this. Job security comes from sticking together. Join the union! Read the Unite Action Newsletter #02.
Unite Action Newsletter #1
It’s time to end the bullying and insecurity. This is our moment. The blacklisting scandal has put the spotlight on the horrendous conditions in our depots. The community is on our side. Over 90% support the bin strikes. If we come out on strike, when our in-house colleagues are already on strike, our power will multiply and the council will have to listen. It’s time to stand together and win permanent jobs and good conditions. Read the Unite Action Newsletter #01.
Download and share the campaign flyer - Stand up to the bullies (PDF)
NEWSFLASH: Birmingham bin worker blacklisting scandal rocks council
Unite members taking action in Birmingham | Strikes by 350 workers will intensify | Dispute sparked by the council’s decision to abolish the safety critical Waste Recycling and Collection Officer (WRCO) role - resulting in pay cuts of up £8,000 for 150 workers – as well as a catalogue of cuts across a service that is already on its knees.
Birmingham's bin workers have been on strike for months
In that time, Birmingham city council's leader, John Cotton, hasn't attended ANY negotiations.
Workers are facing pay cuts of up to £8,000.Because John Cotton won't come to us, listen to the workers, hear striker Danny's address to Unite's conference
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Unite deals with thousands of negotiations every year. From the council side, the negotiations in this dispute have been a shambles, ... instead of trying to injunct picket lines and attack workers, the council leader should stop playing games, get in the room and solve this dispute."
Find out more on how to back Birmingham's bin workers
100 years since the General Strike | Celebrate the centenary
Saturday 2 May 2026 | Barnsley, Yorkshire
Unite the union is working with Durham Miners Association and the National Union of Mineworkers to mark the centenary of the 1926 General Strike.
This is a time to celebrate our history, and to use those lessons to fight for a better future. The workplaces of 2026 might look very different to today, but the words of miners’ leader A. J. Cook are as important for workers now as they were in our great-grandparents’ time: "Not a penny off the pay, not a minute on the day!"
We are bringing together trade unionists, historians, musicians, artists and authors to make this a truly memorable celebration of working-class pride.
Add the date to your calendar, and for news and updates as the day takes shape, register your interest below
100 years since the General Strike | Celebrate the centenary - Sign up today
Save Lindsey Oil refinery | Back the workers - Thanks for joining the rally
Government inaction is costing skilled jobs, destroying our community, and putting the UK’s fuel security at risk. Thanks to everyone that joined the Save Lindsey Oil Refinery rally with Unite general secretary Sharon Graham on Wednesday 15 October.
Lindsey Oil Refinery has powered this region for decades. Now, 125 skilled workers have already been sacked after a night shift — with only statutory redundancy pay. Hundreds more face the same fate, and the knock-on effect could devastate thousands of local jobs. This fight is about more than one refinery — it’s about defending good, skilled, union jobs, and our communities.
Victory – government backtracks on winter fuel payments
After a year-long campaign by Unite, the government has finally announced a reversal of the cuts to winter fuel.
This winter, pensioners in England, Wales and Northern Ireland with an income of £35,000 or less will receive a winter fuel payment. That's well over three quarters of all pensioners. This change would not have come without the campaigning efforts of Unite’s members, who mobilised for the Labour party conference and defeated the Labour leadership in a vote, rallied in their hundreds at parliament, and launched unprecedented legal action.
Responding to the government decision to largely reverse the cut in winter fuel payments, Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Common sense has finally prevailed as the winter fuel cut is reversed for most pensioners. Whilst this is an important step forward, questions will be asked about how this disastrous decision was made in the first place, the damage may not easily be reversed. "
Campaign win: Government backtracks on winter fuel payments
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Winning, growing, delivering ↓
How Unite is delivering on jobs, pay and conditions in workplaces across The UK and Ireland.
All about the campaign
Join Unite as Britain and Ireland’s biggest union focuses on building popular, working-class power to change the system that is rigged against us.
- From workplace to community, Unite is driving a UK-wide strategy to help bring change following the failure of politicians to act. With the aim of unifying collectivism, the Union will now look to drive this country’s political agenda as opposed to commenting on it.
- Unite is investing in communities that feel alienated by politics and are being left behind by the broken economy and cost of living crisis. Unite is in the community, acting on the concerns of working people instead of telling them what to think. And as working people make their voices heard, we are taking direct action rather than waiting for politicians to save us.
- Unite is upending the status quo by investing in people, not politics. This ground-breaking campaign seeks to organise communities, led by people for the people. We will not stop simply because an election has passed. This long-term work is taking place alongside a groundswell of industrial action from working people who are refusing to accept low wages and attacks to our public services.
Together, we will put the power back into the hands of working people where it belongs. The ground is there for us to build on, and we’re just getting started
Video updates from Unite for a Workers' Economy
Unite for a Workers' Economy in action
Campaign video updates from the Unite for a Workers' Economy team. Scroll through a selection of Unite videos highlighting the impact of the campaign on the ground and how it fights for jobs. pay and conditions.
