General secretary of Unite Union Sharon Graham has called on Sir Keir Starmer's Labour Government to "wake up and smell the coffee" following Angela Rayner's suspension.
The Deputy Prime Minister was suspended by the union for her handling of the Birmingham bins crisis, as they seek to "re-examine their relationship" with Labour.
Speaking to GB News, Graham hit out at the "incompetence" of both the Labour Government and Birmingham Council in resolving the crisis.
Questioning why "working people" are paying for the impact of the bin strikes, Graham fumed: "Why are everyday people paying for the incompetence of Birmingham City Council, the Government, and the council debt?
Sharon Graham has hit out at Angela Rayner following her suspension from the Unite union
GB News / PA
"They should not be paying. They're saying they're doing this under the guise of equal pay, well, equal pay is about pushing women's pay up to men's, not pushing men's pay down."
Criticising Rayner over her role in the bins crisis, Graham stated: "Angela Rayner has the commissioners reporting to her. I did a ballpark deal that broadly everybody accepted. The MD of Birmingham City Council went off for three weeks and said to me the commissioners won't accept the deal.
"So in essence, what's the point of negotiating in the room in Birmingham if in truth, the decision has been made by the Government? And that is why Angela Rayner is in the frame, because she is aiding and abetting fire and rehire of these workers. They're on a contract, they've been told that contract no longer exists, and you have to work on less pay or go."
In a scathing attack on Labour, Graham accused the Government of trying to "muddy the waters" instead of helping to resolve the strikes.
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Angela Rayner has been suspended by Unite over her handling of the Birmingham bins crisis
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Graham told GB News: "If I was Labour this morning waking up, I'd do less of trying to do a Houdini act and muddy the waters, and I'd be thinking, how did we get to a situation that 800 delegates from the most important backer to Labour reached almost a unanimous vote bar five people.
"Nearly 800 people said they wanted Angela Rayner suspended and they wanted us to redefine our relationship with Labour and seriously look at that relationship."
She added: "I would be thinking something has gone badly wrong, and if they if they choose to keep putting their fingers in their ears, I won't be their problem, it will be workers leaving labour in droves.
"That will be their problem, they need to wake up and smell the coffee."
Graham told GB News that Labour should stop 'muddying the waters' in their relationship with Unite
GB News
Asked by host Anne Diamond how the Government can "cut through" and resolve the strikes in Birmingham, Graham concluded: "It would be helpful if the decision makers were in the room. The leader of the council in Birmingham has not been in the room once. I find that an abdication of responsibility.
"He's come on to programs and said nobody will lose any money, and either he's lying about that or he doesn't know, because of course people will lose money. There are ways to deal with this that we have suggested, and there's a council debt where the council are paying back to the Treasury £250million a year."
She added: "They could restructure the debt, as the repayment has got extra money on it, which means the Treasury is actually profiteering from council debt. It would cost very a very small amount of money to get this solved.
"We've put those things forward, and they need to take up those things and make sure that these people can go back to work. It's totally and utterly abhorrent, and I am not going to allow workers to be treated in this way."