Angela Rayner has been booted out of the union Unite, after members moved to suspend her membership. At its conference in Brighton, union members also voted to re-examine the organisation’s relationship to Labour. Such a move could be seismic in its implications given Keir Starmer’s dwindling popularity and Jeremy Corbyn’s potential new party.
Rayner’s suspension comes as she has urged striking bin workers in Birmingham to accept the deal tabled by the Labour-run city council. Meanwhile, the new chair of the British Medical Council (BMA), Dr. Tom Dolphin, has indicated that resident doctors could be set to strike for years, if needed.
As another round of strikes gear up one thing is evident: Labour is not the party of workers.
Unite reject Rayner
Unite have previously donated £10,000 to Rayner’s campaign. However, Rayner came out on the side of the local council by urging workers to accept the deal on the table. Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said the government’s backing for the council has been “disgraceful” and added:
Angela Rayner has had every opportunity to intervene and resolve this dispute but has instead backed a rogue council that has peddled lies and smeared its workers fighting huge pay cuts.
Bin workers in Birmingham originally began a dispute with their employers when the council decided to get rid of Waste Recycling and Collection Officers (WRCO). Unite have explained that:
The bin workers are striking over pay cuts of up to £8,000 – up a quarter of their wages for some – and have an industrial action mandate until December. They have been told to accept these lower terms or be made redundant.
The council has disputed this, and claimed it would be a loss of £6000 that affected 17 workers. It appears to be lost on them that strikes are a form of collective action. It’s clearly unacceptable for bin workers to allow any of their colleagues to face such a massive pay cut.
Remarkably, this is the council that Rayner has been backing. As Graham concluded:
People up and down the country are asking whose side is the Labour government on and coming up with the answer: not workers.
Fire and rehire
Unite maintain that the deal the local council for striking bin workers threatens a firing and hiring policy. As one commenter on social media noted, support for such a tactic is a far cry from Rayner’s previous comments:
In 2021 Angela Rayner told hundreds of sacked British Gas workers that a labour government would ban fire and rehire from day 1.
Four years on a Labour council, backed by this government, is threatening to use fire and rehire to break a dispute.
Absolutely shocking https://t.co/H5PTmEHS6H— Kevin Byrne (@kpb75) July 11, 2025
Corporate media journalists have noted that Rayner’s team claim she resigned her Unite membership several months ago, and so cannot have it suspended. Rayner’s team may not realise how unbecoming it is to effectively go “you can’t fire me, I quit!” Regardless, Unite’s rejection of a Labour frontbencher, and potentially of the Labour party as a whole is exactly the kind of confrontation this failing government needs.
Doctors strike
Meanwhile, more strikes from resident doctors are on the horizon. BMA council chair Dolphin has set out a 29% rise in pay as, in the Guardian’s coverage:
non-negotiable, reasonable and easily affordable for the NHS.
Dolphin explained:
It’s a small proportion of the budget. It [29%] sounds like a large number but actually, put into the context of the whole NHS, it’s not a large sum compared to that.
According to the BMA’s calculations, such a pay increase would take half a per cent of the NHS’s yearly budget.
In another example, Dr Sumi Manirajan set out how. with the debt that doctors accrue during their studies, even when working 72 hour weeks, the current ask is for a pay rise from £17 an hour to £23 an hour:
I graduated as a doctor 4 years ago with ~£100k of debt, and despite working up to 72 hours a week, my debt has only increased.
Doctors are being paid £17/hour and have to make loan repayments and pay thousands for exams and fees.
We are only asking for £23/hour.@wesstreeting pic.twitter.com/U7TgfBQhDG
— Dr Sumi Manirajan (@sumitriptan) July 10, 2025
Dr. Melissa Ryan pointed out that a 29% pay rise would only place the pay of resident doctors at comparable levels to 2008:
No doctor today is worth less than they were 17 years ago, as @Melissa_S_Ryan has told Newsnight.
That’s why resident doctors in England have voted for industrial action.
There’s still time for the Government to listen and avert the strikes. pic.twitter.com/vBSZppN8Sx
— Resident Doctors (@BMAResidents) July 9, 2025
BMA resident doctors committee co-chairs Dr Melissa Ryan and Dr Ross Nieuwoudt said:
Unfortunately, the Government has stated that it will not negotiate on pay, wanting to focus on non-pay elements without suggesting what these might be. Without a credible offer to keep us on the path to restore our pay, we have no choice but to call strikes.
However, the government have labelled the BMA’s stance “unreasonable and irresponsible.” What a long way we are from the pandemic-induced glorification of the NHS.
Key workers don’t matter to Rayner – no wonder Unite are taking action
Bin workers and doctors are absolutely crucial to the functioning of any country. They allow a good standard for public health, and both are, of course, absolutely correct to call for strike action. So important are these professions, that the government should be tripping over themselves to give these workers what they need. However, this is a Labour government desperate to prove that they can be just as conservative as the Tories.
Rayner’s opposition to bin workers is the perfect example of just how much Labour has lost its way. It’s little wonder that Unite, who have historically been key supporters of Labour, are reconsidering their relationship.
Featured image via YouTube screenshot/The Independent
This post was originally published on Canary.