Full list of Birmingham Labour councillors who are Unite members as union suspends memberships over bin strikes

Unite said today that it had voted “overwhelmingly” to re-examine its relationship with Labour and suspend council leader John Cotton, along with fellow Unite Birmingham Labour councillors and deputy prime minister Angela Rayner.

The decision was taken following an emergency motion passed at the union’s policy conference in Brighton today, July 11.

The motion condemned Birmingham City Council and the Labour government for “attacking” bin workers.

It follows the council confirming earlier this week that it was ending negotiations with Unite to resolve the bins strike dispute, which was initially triggered by the loss of the Waste Recycling and Collection Officer (WRCO) role.

The council said it was giving notice that disgruntled waste service staff were likely to have to go.

Striking workers have raised concerns about pay while the Labour-run council’s leadership has repeatedly insisted throughout the strike that a “fair and reasonable” offer had been made.

In a statement today, Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Unite is crystal clear it will call out bad employers regardless of the colour of their rosette.

“People up and down the country are asking whose side is the Labour government on and coming up with the answer not workers.”

She said Ms Rayner had had “every opportunity to intervene and resolve this dispute”.

Birmingham City Council said this week that it would notify staff and unions of its intention to enter consultation with affected workers – while keeping the door open to those wanting to accept offers to retrain or be redeployed.

Coun Cotton said: “We have negotiated in good faith but unfortunately Unite has rejected all offers so we must now press ahead to both address our equal pay risk and make much needed improvements to the waste service.

“This is a service that has not been good enough for a long time and we must improve it.

“Unite’s demands would leave us with another equal pay bill of hundreds of millions of pounds, which is totally unacceptable, and would jeopardise the considerable progress we have made in our financial recovery.”

According to the council’s statutory register of interests, the Labour councillors who are members of Unite are as follows:

• Gurdial Singh Atwal, Handsworth Wood

• Narinder Kaur Kooner, Handsworth Wood

• Raqeeb Aziz, Bordesley Green

• Bushra Bi, Ward End

• Kath Hartley, Ladywood

• Mick Brown, Gravelly Hill

• Diane Donaldson, Bromford and Hodge Hill

• Des Hughes, Kingstanding

• Ray Goodwin, Castle Vale

• Mohammed Idrees, Alum Rock

• Mariam Khan, Alum Rock

• Mahmood Hussain, Birchfield

• Kerry Jenkins, Moseley

• Amar Khan, Stockland Green

• Basharat Mahmood, Pype Hayes

• Saddak Miah, Garrets Green

• Rob Pocock, Sutton Vesey

• Shafique Shah, Heartlands

• Sybil Spence, Soho and Jewellery Quarter

• Waseem Zaffar, Lozells

• Jilly Bermingham, Perry Common

• John Cotton, Glebe Farm and Tile Cross