Birmingham Rubbish Piled High

[naomi24]

//A major incident has been declared amid rising concerns of risks to public health - with uncollected bin bags attracting rats'.  No-one is listening,' say Birmingham residents as bin strike leaves streets filled with rubbish//

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cdxgv0yy5ept

 

What can or should be done?  Should the army be called in?

[ToraToraTora]

I'd have thought they'd have called in the army weeks ago.

[ToraToraTora]

They should just sack all the strikers and hire new ones.

[webbo3]

Labour eh.

[bednobs]

eveyone just needs a galvanised bin and burn it all in their yards :)

[ToraToraTora]

13:43...stop it you'll have quenched piping up again!

[youngmafbog]

Difficult to torch your crap in a two up two down dump.  We had a few of them yard was virtually non existant as the kitchen bog extension on the back fills them.

They need to do something, its a health hazzard.

[rowanwitch]

Intermittent collections are still happening using non striking workers,  also agency staff are being   used to collect from high rise blocks and sheltered housing.   They are also bringing refuse trucks to communities and anyone can bring their rubbish.

One of the main problems is certain people are using it as an opportunity to fly tip large items, building waste, and commercial rubbish.  If it was just domestic waste it would be nowhere near as bad as it is at the moment.   The worst hit areas are those like Sparkbrook, and Smethwick where there a a lot of restaurants and food outlets who are using it as an opportunity to avoid paying commercial collection charges.

 

[fender62]

such a health hazard in the making, if there was a pandemic would it be lessons have been learned, or you were not expected to live.. train drivers did well though.. oh but thats in london so effects the elitists, bin men do a back breaking dirty job rain or shine and get paid just above the minimum wage.

[dave50]

Yes, certain communities aren't interested in the environment, only in getting rid of their rubbish any way they can without getting caught. As long as they can get away with it and more importantly,  costs them nothing then that'll do, to help with the mess.

[dave50]

'hell'

[DDIL]

Binmen do a job that no one wants to do - and they deserve more than the min wage and they certainly don't deserve to have their salaries cut.

[ynnafymmi]

Presumably Birmingham has a Tory run council.If it was Labour they would have gave the binmen a £1000 a week rise by now?

[mushroom25]

// Presumably Birmingham has a Tory run council. //

umm, no, actually......

[barry1010]

It's been majority labour council since 2012

[douglas9401]

Some locals have remarked on the evocative scent of the old country being oddly comforting.

[Boto]

The bin men here do not do a backbreaking dirty job.  They move the bins a few feet to the wagon and a lift empties them and the men move them back a few feet to the pavement. 

[DTCwordfan]

Rats - 'Refuse' Truck is a most appropriate terms as in 'Refuse to Lift the Trash' - poor Brummies. Bring in the Army Bin-Liner division.

[New Judge]

“…and they certainly don't deserve to have their salaries cut.”

And none of them will (though, of course, that’s what the Unite union  would like you to believe).

This dispute is a typical one of trade union smoke and mirrors. The union claims that under Birmingham City Council’s (BCC) proposals, some of their members will lose “up to £8,000pa.” That is not true.

Dustcarts in Birmingham each have a “Waste Recycling & Collection Officer” (WRCO) on board. This role was created following an earlier bin strike and WRCOs earn between £6k and £8k more than their crew mates . Unite believes it is a safety critical role but it does not exist anywhere else in the country. BCC (along with all other LAs and probably most commercial companies) believe that safety is the responsibility of every staff member and that a dedicated safety officer (which effectively the WRCO is) is unnecessary.

BCC has offered alternative employment with protected pay for the displaced WRCOs together with a voluntary redundancy scheme for those who would prefer that. Almost three-quarters of staff have taken up one or other of these offers. But there are now 41 workers who have declined any offer, so the strike is continuing and pickets have prevented most of the dust carts leaving their depot.

So yes, the Army should be called in to clear the mess. The current workforce should be sacked and the Army retained until a new workforce can be recruited and trained up.

[douglas9401]

Somebody's channelling their inner Thatcher.