A LABOUR-led council in east London has been accused of acting out of “the Margaret Thatcher school of industrial relations” over plans to fire and rehire staff on inferior contracts.

Thousands of essential workers downed tools today against plans by Tower Hamlets to impose new contracts which they claim will shift pay higher up the organisation at the cost of those at the bottom. 

Unison members picketed sites across the borough, and refuse workers who were not part of the dispute respected the picket line and refused to take vehicles out in solidarity.