Birmingham bin strikes: community feels "left behind" as workers start 12 days of action
It comes as bin workers in the city begin strike action from today.
Last updated 6th Jan 2025
Residents in a Birmingham neighbourhood say they feel left behind after concerns over bin collections.
It comes as bin workers in the city begin strike action from today in a dispute over pay.
We've been speaking to people in Allen's Cross about issues with bin bags being left piled up on the streets.
Leanne Gregory lives in Allen's Cross.
"It's an area of high social housing with a lot of families in quite small properties, so the bins really need to be collected every week - otherwise it causes a lot of problems."
She says bins not being collected raises serious health and safety concerns.
"There is a problem with rats - we already see the rats. And I think that's just going to get worse.
"And what can we do about it? I absolutely don't know."
Leanne tells us Allen's Cross feels forgotten about.
"We need to see really equity in Allen's Cross, we need to see some mobile bin units, we need to see a real presence of litter pickers and we need to see real care and consideration for the type of community this is, which is a deprived one."
Other people in Allen's Cross shared their concerns over the strike action.
"If they don't collect them for a couple of weeks it's going to cause havoc because they will just be rubbish floating all over the place," says one man we spoke to.
Allen's Cross resident Theresa agreed but was sympathetic to the reasons behind the strike.
"I think it's going to be an utter nightmare, but, saying that, I think bin workers are in a very, very tricky position."
Another woman in the area was less sympathetic.
"So what are we going to do then? Put more bags out for rats to run around?"
The union Unite says 150 workers will be affected and face losing £8,000. It says the cut could also reduce future pension payments.
Unite regional officer Zoe Mayou said:
“Unite has bent over backwards to resolve this dispute but the council has negotiated in bad faith and is simply refusing to treat its workers with fairness and decency.
“The strikes, overtime ban and work to rule will cause huge disruption to refuse services throughout Birmingham but this dispute is entirely of the council’s own making.
"The solution to this dispute is in the council’s hands.”
A Birmingham City Council spokesperson said:
“We are disappointed that this action is taking place, but we are continuing to work through the dispute resolution procedure.
“We thank residents for their understanding and patience during this challenging period and assure everyone that we are committed to resolving the situation in the best interest of all parties involved.
“Ensuring the safety of our employees and residents is taken extremely seriously, and health and safety is everyone’s responsibility. We have undertaken steps to ensure Birmingham City Council colleagues affected by the change in working arrangements are supported.
"We are committed to working with our colleagues across the service for the best outcome so that we deliver a consistent and reliable service that Birmingham residents deserve.”
A total of 12 days of strike action are planned on the following days:
January 6, 14, 22, 30 / February 7, 10,18, 26 / March 6, 14, 25 / April 2