Piles of black rubbish bags continue to fill the pavements of Birmingham, as the city deals with an ongoing bin strike.
Mounds of waste remain uncollected, while residents have started to take matters into their own hands.
Birmingham City Council declared a major incident on 31 March, saying the “regrettable” move was taken in response to public health concerns, as picket lines were blocking depots and preventing waste vehicles from collecting rubbish.
The all-out strike started on 11 March, but waste collections have been disrupted since January.
Here is everything you need to know.
How long have workers been striking?
More than 350 workers of the Unite union began a series of walkouts in January and decided to escalate into indefinite strike action on 11 March, citing fear over further attacks on their jobs, pay and conditions.
The union has said that the removal of the role of waste recycling and collection officer (WRCO) role will leave about 150 workers £8,000 worse off – as the number of workers working on bin lorries will be reduced from four to three.
The council said it scrapped the WRCO role to put the city’s waste operations in line with national practice and to improve its waste collection service.
It said all workers have been offered alternative employment at the same pay, driver training or voluntary redundancy and that offer remains open.
Three military planners are understood to have been assigned to the city to provide logistical support to Birmingham’s council for a short period of time.
What are the impacts?
Normally, the city’s waste teams would make more than half a million collections in a week with 200 vehicles deployed over eight-hour daily shifts.
This has been reduced to just over 26,000 since the start of April, according to the latest council figures.
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The cost of the ongoing clean-up could cause even more damage to the council, which effectively declared bankruptcy in 2023. One waste management agency told Sky News that totally clearing the backlog could cost more than £200m.
The strike has become one of the longest the UK has seen in recent years.
Back in 1978-79, the winter of discontent led to rubbish piling up on the streets of London, as the waste collection industry joined other trade unions in demanding larger pay rises in response to government caps.
More recently, more than 200 bin workers in the Wirral went on a week-long strike in 2022, eventually securing a 15% pay rise. In the same year, a similar dispute over pay saw rubbish pile up in Edinburgh during the city’s busy festival season.
Why is it taking so long to settle the dispute?
Unite, the union representing striking workers, and the city council have failed to reach an agreement since the strike began in March, with Unite holding firm on the strike action despite pressure from the government.
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Members rejected the council’s latest offer on 14 April by 97% on 60% turnout, saying it was “totally inadequate” and did not address potential pay cuts for 200 drivers.
The union’s general secretary Sharon Graham said the rejection was “no surprise” as “workers simply cannot afford to take pay cuts of this magnitude to pay the price for bad decision after bad decision”.
Meanwhile, the government and council said it was a “significantly improved” offer.
Responding to an urgent question in the House of Commons on 22 April, communities minister Jim McMahon said “significant progress” had been made in dealing with the remaining tonnes of rubbish.
He said through “a concerted effort” and with the assistance of other councils, private operators and workers, 26,000 tonnes of excess waste had been removed, and the levels were “approaching normal”.
Council leader John Cotton told Sky News’ Midlands correspondent Lisa Dowd on 16 April that it “pains” him to see pictures of mounds of rubbish and rats feeding off the mess being broadcast around the world.
He said the only way for the normal waste collection schedule to resume was for the strike to end – but added the cash-strapped council has “red lines” that it will not cross during negotiations.
Deputy prime minister Angela Rayner visited the city on 10 April and urged the union to end the “misery and disruption” by accepting a pay deal.
How have residents been affected?
Mounting rubbish has led to residents complaining of a risk to public health, with rotting food attracting foxes, cockroaches and rats.
Rashid Campbell, a local resident who is part of a volunteer litter-picking team from the Birmingham Central Mosque, told Sky’s Shamaan Freeman-Powell that 12 members of his team collected 24 bags of rubbish from two Birmingham streets on Easter Sunday.
“If we don’t [litter-pick], we’re just going to be drowning in rubbish,” he said.
Latifat Abdul Majed Isah said even in some places where bins have been taken away, the street remained “dirty, unpalatable and unpleasant to see”.
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Joseph McHale, a rat-catcher from Vergo Pest Management, told Sky News at the beginning of April that discarded bin bags provide vermin with “somewhere to hide, somewhere to feed, somewhere to stay warm”.
He said his business had seen a 60% increase in people from Birmingham calling them for help.
By declaring a major incident, the council was able to free up an additional 35 vehicles and crews to clear rubbish and fly-tipping from the streets.
The limited number of waste trucks are deployed each morning from three depots across the city and cover multiple different routes.
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Residents are also able to dispose of household general waste and bulky items at the council’s mobile household waste centres, without prebooking.
To recycle household items, locals are required to book a slot at one of the council’s household recycling centres.
Could it spread to other areas?
The union’s general secretary has warned the strikes could “absolutely” spread to other areas.
“If other councils decide to make low-paid workers pay for bad decisions that they did not make, workers paying the price yet again, then absolutely, of course, we all have to take action in those other areas,” Sharon Graham told LBC.
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The union’s national lead officer Onay Kasab agreed, telling BBC Four: “Well, if other local authorities look to cut the pay of essential public service workers, then there is the potential for strike action spreading.
“That’s why different political choices need to be made.”
Ms Graham also criticised the government, saying it had taken them “a huge amount of time to get involved in the dispute”.
