Volunteers step in to clear the streets as binmen’s five-week strike turns Brum into a slum
lOOKing like a third World slum, this is the scene in Birmingham, where a five-week strike by binmen has left the city strewn with mountains of rotting rubbish.
the situation has become so desperate that volunteers have stepped in to clear the maggot and rat-infested refuse.
after more than a month without collections, the situation is reminiscent of the Winter of Discontent, when strikers in 1978 and 1979 left rubbish piled high in the streets.
the current strike began on June 30 over council plans to replace a supervisor in each three-man bin lorry crew with someone on a lower pay grade.
around 113 staff would be offered other roles on the same or a better grade. in changes expected to save £5million a year, binmen would also be moved from a fourday week of nine hours a day to five days of seven hours to cut overtime payments.
Members of the Bearded Broz, a local Muslim community group, have now taken to the streets with a tipper truck to clear rubbish posing a health hazard. naveed Sadiq, who organised two collections in the Small heath area using a truck loaned from a community group, compared Birmingham’s streets to scenes from the film Slumdog Millionaire, which showed the squalor of Mumbai.
he added: ‘We’ve had to pick up bags that are full of maggots, and have encountered several rats. We’ve seen elderly people who have been unable to walk down the street because bags of rubbish have been in the way. ‘Mothers with young children have been too scared to leave their homes. it’s horrible that it’s come to this. We felt we had a responsibility to help clear up. the response from the community to us has been wonderful – who knew that rubbish could prove so interesting to people?’
car sales firm director Mr Sadiq, 42, who lives in Small heath, set up the Bearded Broz with his friend imran hameed, 37, an it consultant, five years ago.
Mr hameed said up to 200 people volunteer with the group, adding that the phone had ‘gone berserk’ with offers of more help since news of their work to clear the streets began to spread. he said the group usually helped old peo- ple change light bulbs or put up search posters for lost pets, adding: ‘We just come together to help others in need.
‘it can be big things or small issues. You don’t need to have a beard and you don’t need to be Muslim to help us.
‘ On our first collection, an english lady came out and helped us put the bins into the wagon. People are thankful and it is helping bring the community together.’
the group is hoping to return for more collections on Sunday with a larger vehicle, and is planning a crowdfunding appeal so it can buy or hire its own refuse lorry.
But the union Unite claims binmen’s jobs could be under threat and that alternative work that has been offered may only be short term, which the council denies.
Striking crews are starting work three hours late and working to rule, meaning they return to their depot for lunch and tea breaks instead of stopping for snacks on their rounds as normal.
there are long queues at tips as residents dump their own refuse.
Unite said binmen had gone on strike ‘as a last resort and at financial loss to themselves in order to protect their already low wages’.
a council spokesman said a clean-up that began last week had cleared just over half the city’s 8,200 streets.
he predicted all rubbish would be cleared by the end of next week, adding: ‘Discussions are continuing with unions and we hope to resolve this sooner rather than later.’
an online petition begun by tory councillor alex Yip, which calls for residents to be given a refund on their council tax as a result of the strike, had been signed by more than 6,900 people last night. a.dolan@dailymail.co.uk
‘It’s horrible that it’s come to this’