Despite the propaganda emanating from the Council & the Birmingham Mail this week, most of Birmingham’s residents fully back the bin men. Today’s pickets of Montague Street, Lifford Lane, Redfern Road and Holford Drive were packed and only a tiny insignificant number of scabs made it out from Redfern Road. The streets are full of rubbish, the council is inundated with complaints, and all of Birmingham wants to see them get to the negotiating table and give the bin men what they rightfully demand.

From the public support it is clear that nobody has bought into the propaganda of councillor Dierdre Alden who suggested this week the bin men risked creating the conditions for another Grenfell. After all, Tory Alden should remember the real reasons for Grenfell. The Tory Council in Chelsea could have purchased a sprinkler system for the block which would have cost a paltry £200,000, fire retardant cladding a further £5,000. In contrast, Robert Bond, Chief Executive of Rydon Group, the company undertaking the refurbishment, was paid £424,000 last year and gained dividends of £734,000. The contrast betwen rich and poor couldn’t be greater. It’s class against class.

Councillor Alden, like the Labour leaders of Birmingham Council still hopes to turn public opinion against the striking workers and will stoop to any dirty, mucky accusations to achieve their aim of forcing through unjustifiable and ill conceived cuts. And if the Birmingham Mail continues to allow such tripe to be reported in it’s pages there should be a picket outside their offices to expose their bias.

Full support to the Birmingham Bin Men!