Meet the 74-year-old Birmingham resident forced to lug rubbish bags up a hill to a mobile collection site.
The city council and the Unite union have failed to strike an agreement again today meaning the all-out strike is set to continue for another day.
Action began on 11 March, but waste collections have been disrupted since January.
GB News’s West Midlands Reporter Jack Carson spoke to local residents including a 74-year-old who said the union is holding people like her to ransom.
She told GB News that the city smells disgusting
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“It’s absolutely and utterly disgusting. I am 74 and I am having to carry my own bin bags up a hill to empty them”, she said.
“The council tax is going up, everything is going up and there’s us having to do our own work. I don’t know what we’re paying for.”
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She continued: “It’s a health hazard. What you see on the news is totally and utterly disgusting. The smell is terrible.
“Emptying bins should be protected like the NHS – they shouldn’t be able to do this. They shouldn’t be able to hold us to ransom.”
Another local was more sympathetic to Unite, but he was working to help with bin collections.
He told GB News could understand both sides of the long-running dispute.
“I could understand the city needs to recover the money but I also know the bin workers have a life and have to take care of their families”, he said.
“We can’t just keep prolonging this experience for everyone in Birmingham.
“I’m trying to do the right thing for my neighbours. I don’t know how it can be resolved soon. I think it will be a long term problem with the birds and the rats. The longer it continues, the bigger the risk of disease. Could we have to quarantine the whole city?”
Another local directed his anger at the local council, saying: “They’ve lost over £700m of our money and given themselves a pay rise.
“We’re being made to pay for it. This [collections] does help but it shouldn’t have to come to it. We’re not a third-world country.”
Neighbouring Lichfield District Council has agreed to send bin crews to help clear Birmingham’s waste backlog from Wednesday.
Lichfield Council leader Doug Pullen assured residents: “If you’re a Lichfield District Council taxpayer, you will not be paying a penny towards that.”
“We will recover every last penny from the government and Birmingham City Council,” he stated.
Unite union has warned that similar bin strikes could spread across the country.
Clare Keogh, Unite’s local government spokesman, said: “Anger is growing, and we’re seeing that in the increasing number of strike ballots we’re taking forward.”
She warned there was “massive potential this will escalate” if the government doesn’t address growing discontent among refuse workers nationwide.
Crucial talks between Birmingham City Council and Unite union are continuing after Monday’s negotiations were described as “productive”.
The council announced that “all of our waste wagons have been deployed from our three depots citywide this morning.”
Unite regional officer Zoe Mayou said: “All I can say is we both want an end to this dispute.”
The dispute centres on bin workers fighting plans to remove some roles and downgrade others.
Around 400 Unite members have been on strike since early March, with some action dating back to January.
Birmingham City Council claims only a small number of workers would face pay cuts, citing its desperate need to save money after declaring bankruptcy in 2023.
