Black bin bags line the city’s streets, along with more unusual household items dumped by fly-tippers, including fruit machines, cat scratching posts, toys and carpets.
Rubbish piles up on a street in Birmingham during the workers’ strike (Photo: Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP Photo)
Members of the Unite union went out on strike on Tuesday 11 March, due to a long-running dispute over the role of waste recycling and collection officer (WRCO) being removed.
Residents in Birmingham have reported “rats as big as cats” roaming their streets.
Rubbish in the street outside Ward End Park, Birmingham (Photo: PA Wire) Birmingham residents say they have had to think outside the box amid the bin strike as getting a slot at a tip is like ‘winning a lottery’ (Photo: PA Wire)
Rat populations can grow extremely quickly – the rodents become sexually mature at two months old and give birth every three weeks to between six and 12 babies.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting expressed concern on Tuesday about the public health situation.
He said it is “totally unacceptable” that the dispute has seen bin lorries blocked from leaving the depot.
Rubbish piles up on a residential street in Birmingham (Photo: Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP Photo)Furniture and uncollected refuse bags in Yardley, east Birmingham (Photo: Jacob King/PA Wire)The city council declared a major incident on 31 March because of the impact and talks between local government and Unite are continuing in an effort to break the deadlock.
The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) has offered its support to the strikers and said its members will not step in to help clear rubbish.
Rubbish piles up on a residential street in Birmingham (Photo: Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP)Refuse collection teams normally make over half a million collections a week.
Birmingham City Council’s website says that residents should continue to put their household waste out on their normal collection day, but recycling collections are suspended so those bins should not be put out.
The council has said it has made a “very fair offer” to Unite, and that it hopes bin collections will be back to normal “as soon as possible,” but talks with the union have not yet been successful.
A timeline of the Birmingham bin strikes
6 January: Refuse workers represented by the Unite union go on strike over a long-running dispute over the role of waste recycling and collection officer (WRCO) being removed.
3 February: The industrial action is initially supposed to last for 12 days over four months, but Unite announces that it will be intensified, with 12 days taking place in February.
26 February: A further escalation is announced.
11 March: 350 refuse workers begin an indefinite, all-out strike.
27 March: Talks collapse between Birmingham City Council and Unite, with the local authority threatening compulsory redundancy for those who have “declined all offers on the table”.
31 March: Birmingham City Council declares a major incident, saying that this is in response to a risk to public health and of damage to the environment.
It says that picket lines blocking depots have been stopping vehicles from exiting, meaning that 17,000 tonnes of rubbish has been left uncollected.
Declaring a major incident enables the council to deploy an extra 35 vehicles and crews to collect rubbish.
2 April: The bin strike is referenced during Prime Minister’s Questions, with Sir Keir Starmer saying that the Government will provide any support necessary to the council.
3 April: Unite general secretary Sharon Graham writes to Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner to accuse ministers of sitting on their hands.
5 April: Rayner meets Birmingham council leaders.
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