Frustrated Birmingham residents demand action on bins strike amid fears over mounting rubbish and rats

After weeks of disruption, the strike is set to go all-out this week as the dispute between Unite the Union and Birmingham City Council over the scrapping of a “safety-critical” role continues.

Brummies have already been forced to endure recycling collections being suspended and overflowing bins since industrial action started in January.

Piles of bin bags in the street have also blighted several areas across Birmingham, including Balsall Heath, Sparkhill, Aston, Selly Park, Northfield and more.

Residents now appear to be reaching breaking point, with an online petition calling the Labour-run city council to “take immediate action to resolve the ongoing failures” attracting more than 4,000 signatures as of Monday, March 10.

The petition’s organiser, Nicola Walker, wrote that overflowing bins “attract pests and create foul smells” and demanded an immediate resolution.

“The council are leaving the streets full of rubbish which in turn will make the city’s rat problem even worse,” one resident added.

“Birmingham City Council seem to be happy in constantly increasing our council tax and yet they don’t provide the service,” another said.

“When you log it as a missed collection, you then get a pointless email asking how their services can be improved.”

A third wrote: “My road’s a tip and a hazard!”

Communities across the city are feeling the impact – one example is Selly Oak, a popular student area which is struggling with overflowing recycling bins, rubbish bags in the street and a repulsive stench.

A student, who shares a house with six other people, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) the area near the University of Birmingham had been “hit hard” by the industrial action.

She said her recycling bin, filled to the brim with waste, had not been collected in a month and complained about an unpleasant smell lingering over the neighbourhood.

Elsewhere in Allens Cross, resident Leanne Gregory has watched on in anger as rubbish bags begin to pile up in her area, which she previously said was “overrun” with rats.

“So many issues in this ward,” she said. “We have rats the size of feet – I’m absolutely seething.”

Meanwhile reporter Naomi de Souza had her own experience with rats recently as rubbish piled up near her parking space.

“I had called the RAC out because I needed a new battery but upon opening my bonnet, the mechanic was shocked to see a wire in my bonnet had been chewed through clean by rats,” she said.

“The wire was fixed for free as part of my policy, but it made me feel angry that this had happened.

“It was the ultimate irony having this happen while reporting on goings on at the council.”

The prospect of rats spreading throughout the city has also become a pressing concern among local councillors and was a major talking point during last week’s critical budget meeting.

One councillor even warned there had been reports of “rats the size of cats”.

Coun Robert Alden, leader of the council’s Conservative group, said the sight of litter in the streets discouraged investment into Birmingham.

“Take a look along any of the arterial routes into the city, be it road or rail, and you can see rubbish everywhere you look,” he said.

“This is the city Birmingham Labour has created and the city they are showing to investors.

“Under Labour’s budget litter will go up, bins will go fortnightly and rats will spread.”

Unite organised the strike amid council’s plans to scrap the waste recycling and collection officer role, which the union described as “safety-critical”.

“We have a lot of support [from residents],” Zoe Mayou, regional officer at Unite, told the LDRS during a demonstration last week.

“We are not doing this strike to hold the city to ransom.”

She said many Unite members were taxpayers living in Birmingham and feeling the impacts of the industrial action themselves.

The city council said it had made a “fair and reasonable offer” to Unite and alternatives have been offered to the “small number of workers whose wages are impacted ongoing by the changes to the service (of whom there are now only 40)”.

“Residents of Birmingham want and deserve a better waste collection service and the restructure that Unite is opposing is part of the much-needed transformation of the service,” a council spokesperson said.

External auditors recently highlighted several issues and missteps which contributed to the council’s financial woes, including the equal pay debacle, inadequate budget setting, poor service management, demand led pressures and the disastrous implementation of a new IT and finance system.

Labour councillors have also highlighted the impact of funding cuts over the past decade or so.