Why I support the Birmingham bin strikes
(And why you should, too)
The UK city of Birmingham is undoubtedly a shit-hole.
Unlike its U.S. namesake in Alabama, it has long been ‘culturally enriched’ to the point of record crime and unrest.
As I write this, white people make just 48.6% of the population - a large-but-ever-shrinking minority, down from 70% in 2001.
Perhaps as a direct result, there are now rampant racial tensions, so-called county lines and a recurring presence of Islamic extremism. Only last month a Birmingham man was arrested for being a member of Hezbollah. How enriching.
The crime rate in Birmingham is also higher than the rest of England. In 2023, it had a crime rate of 137 crimes per 1,000 people, which is 57% greater than the national average of 85 crimes per 1,000 people.
Like I said, it’s a shit-hole. But it’s more of a shit-hole than usual, ATM - thanks to the local bin men going on strike and grinding the city to a halt.
Mountains of rotting rubbish currently line the streets, while rats the size of cats plague residents and spread disease.
Now in its fifth week, health experts are becoming increasingly concerned about the presence of Weil's disease (a dangerous bacteria contracted from the urine of infected rodents).
Yet, while I sympathise with locals who are afflicted, I fully support the strike action. Why? Because it’s a powerful reminder that society breaks down without men’s back-breaking physical labour to maintain it.
After all, it’s men who literally built civilisation - the roads, the bridges and the buildings - and it’s almost exclusively men who maintain this infrastructure on a daily basis. Sure, lots of women do great work in much-needed jobs, but they’re not doing the gruelling, gritty stuff that causes men to be 95% of workplace fatalities.
It’s men, not women, who work on oil rigs, down mines and in abattoirs. It’s men, not women, who ensure our sewers operate effectively. It’s men, not women, who clean out streets.
And this fact makes the strike action in Birmingham a delicious display of ‘meninism’.
See, all of this happened because of an equal pay lawsuit launched against Birmingham City Council in 2012. The 174 complainants - all female - complained that equal pay for equal work was no longer good enough; they now wanted equal pay for similar work, which is something else entirely.
Specifically, they wanted ‘equal pay’ for sitting in comfortable, air-conditioned offices while men were out repairing road surfaces at 5am in the bleak mid-Winter.
Unsurprisingly, the council lost (because men must lose everything) and the council was forced to payout £1.1 billion in backdated pay. Predictably, they swiftly went bankrupt with an outstanding liability estimated at £650m.
In September 2023 they formally issued a Section 114 notice, declaring the council to be “in a negative General Fund position” due to “the cost of providing Equal Pay claims”. In other words, they were flat-broke and terribly in debt.
Despite this, the council was still legally required to ‘equalise’ salaries, and the only way they could do this was to immediately reduce men’s pay. In some instances, this saw more than £1,000 snatched from men’s pay packets, while the highest-paying role in the sector was completely erased and made redundant.
Simply because those doing the work were men.
It was appalling treatment of hard-working people. And, presumably, council bosses thought there’d be no consequence. Yet the working-class men of Birmingham fought back with strike action. And, for this, I’m proud of them.
This may seem silly, especially as I don’t know any of them, but I love that they’re defending their rights and resisting the entitled women who take men’s contribution for granted.
I mean, just imagine if all men in the UK went on strike. There’d be no trains, no bus drivers, no builders and no grave-diggers. The entire day-to-day, working-class system would collapse. Sure, it would be mightily impaired if women went on strike, but it’s men whop keep this country running.
Birmingham’s rat-infested streets are proof of this.
How this story ends, I do not know. But what’s happening in Birmingham will not be an isolated one-off. On the contrary, it will happen in every town and city across the UK.
Here’s why: Refuse collection is physically-demanding, unpleasant work. It requires strength and stoicism. Councils need to pay more in recognition of this. But, because bin collectors are almost 80% male, it will always be vulnerable to equal pay lawsuits.
And while equal pay for equal work is important, equal pay for similar work is complete madness and a consequence of man-hating feminism.
It will bankrupt businesses and councils, and make it impossible to provide basic services. Then again, maybe that’s exactly what’s needed for men to finally get the respect they deserve.
Sounds like there are 174 women who ought to be frog marched into the streets and told to start cleaning.
I have been advocating a man strike for years.