OCTOBER Report
Wolverhampton, Bilston & District TUC
Wolverhampton counter protests against on 20 September at Goldthorn Hotel and 4 October, St Peter’s square. Those campaigning for hope over hate and division far out-numbered the rag-tag bunch of far-right activists promoting conspiracy theories and opposing the council’s City of Sanctuary policy.
Midlands TUC Equality Conference 2025
Saturday November 1st
10am TUC Midlands, 47 Summer Lane, Birmingham, B19 3TH
Register HERE..
The conference will feature talks from trade union speakers and representatives from various equality networks and committees in the Midlands.
BHM event – Excellent attendance at a brilliant meeting with 100 at our BHM launch meeting on Wednesday 8th October at the Heritage Centre with Dr Angelina Osborne & Roger McKenzie (International editor of the Morning Star), opened by Warinder Juss MP. Our volunteers provided a buffet and we distributed 400 of each book at the launch, to attendees and councillors and Walsall and Dudley TUCs who have taken some for schools. All 125 tickets had been registered and we had closed ticket registration.
Black Country & Enslavement: Manufacture of Agricultural tools
We have also laid out the original research Black Country & Enslavement: an Overview, that this branch also helped fund, into a 64-page booklet.
Both can be viewed online at https://wolvestuc.org.uk/researcher/
We have about 600 copies of each left for distribution at schools/colleges/unions etc.
Contact us for copies.
UNITE BIRMINGHAM BIN STRIKERS – all out strike since 11 March
Several trades council delegates including myself also took part in the 2nd Megapicket which closed all 3 depots plus 2 more sites being used for scab trucks. Another action is planned for 10th September.
Call for all local trades unionists to support Birmingham Bin strike picket lines
6-10am Mon-Fri
- Holford Drive Depot, Perry Barr, Birmingham B42 2TU, closest to Wolves
- Atlas Depot, in Tyseley, Birmingham B11 2AS
- Lifford Lane Depot, Kings Norton, Birmingham B30 3JJ
- UNITE for a workers’ economy protest with Birmingham Bin Strikers at Home secretary’s office in Jewellery Quarter this month.
Actions you can take:
- Send a message of solidarity to striking bin workers in Birmingham
- donate to the strike fund https://www.unitetheunion.org/campaigns/back-birminghams-refuse-workers-sign-our-petition-today#
- Write to Birmingham City Council https://actionnetwork.org/letters/we-back-the-birmingham-bin-strike-birmingham-city-council-stop-the-cuts?source=direct_link&
- Send a postcard to council Leader John Cotton https://supportbinworkers.unitetheunion.postbug.app/
- Write to the scab agency Job&Talent https://actionnetwork.org/letters/bin-the-scabs?source=direct_link&
Our meeting on 16 October we will discuss strategies for opposing the far-right. we have had talks with labour councillors in Bilston north with a view to either joint Hope Not Hate leafleting or using our own leaflet emphasising the anti-worker nature of Reform.
TUC Education resources for stewards and activists:
- https://author.tuceducation.org.uk/tackling-the-far-right/#/menu/667585a54e0463cedad6fc7f
- https://www.tuc.org.uk/antifarright/anti-far-right-resources
Workers’ Memorial Day Stone consultation to agree our replacement stone, is underway by council due to be completed by mid November.
Design is similar to this:
FREE Trade Union and Working Class History COURSE
30 October 2025 – New Unionism & Eleanor Marx
27 November 2025 – The Matchwomen’s Strike
29 January 2026 – Mary McArthur and the National Federation of Working Women
26 February 2026 – The 1918 Equal Pay Strike
26 March 2026 – The General Strike in its Aftermath
30 April 2026 – Day Nurseries & ‘British Restaurants’: Women Workers in WW2
28 May 2026 – Part-Time Work in the Post-War Years
25 June 2026 – The Ford Dagenham Strike
30 July 2026 – Trico: The Longest Equal Pay Strike
Please note: You only need to sign up once to access all online sessions. https://gftuet.org.uk/courses/trade-union-and-working-class-history
report from CODIR – The current wave of executions is believed to be the biggest since the Islamic Republic’s massacring of thousands of political prisoners in the “National Catastrophe” of summer 1988. It has been reliably estimated that since at least 1,100 prisoners (not all political) have been executed by the authorities in Iran since 1 January 2025.