Unite announces cut to Labour membership fees by £580,000

One of Britain’s largest trade unions is cutting membership fees to Labour by more than half a million pounds over the Birmingham bin strike.

The move by Unite, one of the three largest unions affiliated to Labour and a key financial donor to it, comes ahead of a conference next year when members will consider whether they want to maintain ties to the party.

Unite announced the 40% cut, which will cost Labour as much as £580,000, on the anniversary of the bin strike in Birmingham, in which workers have been pitted against a city council controlled by the party.

The union’s general secretary, Sharon Graham said: “Unite members are coming to the end of the line as far as Labour is concerned.

“Workers are scratching their heads asking whose side are Labour on, who do they really represent, because it certainly isn’t workers.”

Talks between Unite and the Birmingham city council have failed to reach a solution since the start of the dispute over the local authority’s decision to remove Waste Recycling and Collection Officer posts, and negotiations.

Sharon Graham, general secretary of Unite, says its members were ‘coming to the end of the line as far as Labour is concerned’. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA

Graham said on Wednesday that residents and workers were continuing to suffer and accused the council of “dithering” over a deal which she said had already been scoped out at conciliation service Acas.

The Unite leader, who has been a consistent critic of Keir Starmer’s agenda, added: “Labour’s incompetent behaviour in Birmingham has come on the back of a failed economic strategy, that has left our industrial base fighting for its life.

“Oil and gas workers facing decimation, buy British defence promises broken, the public sector undervalued and the elderly and disabled under attack.”

A Unite rules conference takes place every four years and next year’s will involve the revision of rules including its affiliation to Labour.

Birmingham city council declared a major incident in March last year over the strike, saying the daily blocking of depots by picket lines means vehicles are unable to pick up 17,000 tonnes of uncollected rubbish across the city.

A Labour party spokesperson said: “The Labour party is proud to be funded by our dedicated party members, affiliated supporters, trade union members and party donors.

Uncollected refuse bags in the Aston area of Birmingham. The city council run by Labour declared a major incident in March last year over the strike. Photograph: Jacob King/PA

“The Labour government is delivering the biggest upgrade to workers’ rights in a generation to address low pay, insecure work and poor working conditions, which will benefit 15 million workers across the country.”

Unite, which represents general workers in the public and private sectors, is one of 11 unions affiliated to Labour. It is one of the largest unions in the UK and Ireland, with more than 1.2 million members.

Unite’s move also comes amid what polls suggest is a surge in support for the Green party, which won the previously safe Labour seat of Gorton and Denton last month and which is now positioning itself as a rival for support from donors.

Mothin Ali, a deputy leader of the Greens, said: “This Labour government has lost the confidence of the country and is now losing its historic trade union support because they know Labour doesn’t represent working-class interest.”