Professor John Robertson OBA

The current refuse worker strike in Labour-run Birmingham is now 9 months long and thus outright winner of a competition going back to the Labour-run Glasgow Council’s 13 week strike of 1975.

In 2022, the Labour-run Edinburgh Council had a 12 day strike during the Festival.

In Glasgow, in the same year, the SNP took over the council on 18 May, after 40 years of Labour in charge, and refuse worker strikes began in August lasting 12 to 14 days.

In the same year the Labour-run Coventry City Council had a 7 month refuse workers strike and Labour-run Tower Hamlets in London had a 2 week strike.

In August 2024, SNP-led Glasgow City Council averted a strike.

So, the average length of a Labour-led council refuse strike is around 16 weeks while an SNP council one averages only 2 weeks.