Too much rubbish to walk children to school, says Birmingham mum
It's after the city council declared a major incident on Monday as bin workers continue to strike
Last updated 3rd Apr 2025
As bin strikes rumble on in Birmingham, we're hearing from parents impacted on the school run by piles of uncollected rubbish.
Bin workers downed tools indefinitely over three weeks ago, with Birmingham City Council declaring a major incident on Monday.
The strike action's over plans to scrap a waste collection role which Unite the Union says would result in pay cuts.
We've been speaking to one mum from Bordesley Green - she told us she can't walk her young children to nursery anymore:
"Usually we walk every day to nursery, but we have to take the car now because there are too many rats, the walkways aren't clear to pass. So what do you do?
"There are some people who don't have cars and they have to walk through all that rubbish and go into the road, which isn't safe."
She said she's frustrated with the advice being given to residents.
"What do you say when they're telling you to go to pick up points with your litter? You don't want to put rotting litter in your car.
"And of course not everyone has a car, so whoever's coming up with these ideas obviously don't live in the areas that have been affected the most."
Earlier this week the city council said declaring a major incident will initially increase the availability of street cleansing and fly-tip removal, with an additional 35 vehicles and crews around the city.
Speaking outside Birmingham City Council House, leader John Cotton said he was "determined to take every measure we can to address the very serious scenes we now see play out in certain parts of our city".
He added: "It's regrettable that we have had to take this step, but we cannot tolerate a situation that is causing harm and distress to communities across Birmingham.
"I respect the right to strike and protest, however actions on the picket line must be lawful and sadly the behaviour of some now means we are seeing a significant impact on residents and the city's environment.
"Unless we declare a major incident and deploy the waste service's contingency plan, then we would be unable to clear the backlog of waste on the streets or improve the frequency of collections."
Unite said it had not been informed about plans to declare a major incident before the announcement was made.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: "Birmingham council could easily resolve this dispute but instead it seems hellbent on imposing its plan of demotions and pay cuts at all costs.
"If that involves spending far more than it would cost to resolve the strike fairly, they don't seem to care.
"We can only conclude that this massive pay cut for hundreds of refuse workers is only the start and this is really about stamping out any future opposition to its plans to unleash austerity 2.0 on Birmingham.
"Unite will never accept attacks on our members and we will continue to defend Birmingham's refuse workforce to the hilt."
So far, talks between Unite the union and council officials have not been successful.