Birmingham grapples with mounting waste as bin strike drags on
The UK's second-largest city of Birmingham is battling a deepening waste crisis, as a nearly year-long strike by bin workers leaves rubbish piling up across streets and raises growing public health concerns.
The strike, which escalated at the start of the year and turned into an indefinite walkout in March, was triggered by pay cuts and job restructuring in the city's waste management department.
Its impact is visible across Birmingham, with bags of uncollected rubbish lining residential streets and reports of rising rodent infestations.
"We get a lot of animal infestations, [such as] rodents, stuff that never used to exist in the UK before, but it does exist now. This seems to be sort of quite a general sort of trend in the UK at the moment," said a local resident.
In September 2023, Birmingham City Council announced it would suspend all new non-essential public spending due to unprecedented financial pressures.
As part of its cost-cutting measures, the council revealed plans to eliminate senior roles in the waste management department in 2024, slashing some workers' annual income by around 8,000 pounds or more than 20 percent. The move sparked strong opposition from union members and ultimately led to the strike.
The union representing the bin workers has emphasized that their primary demand is not for higher wages, but to prevent pay cuts.
"We do not want more money. All we want is for these guys not to have their pay cut. That's what we want," said Onay Kasab, lead officer at Unite the Union.
(Source: via Reuters)
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