Families hit by vermin plague as strike leaves 3ft of rubbish in street
RESIDENTS in the grip of an eight-week long bin strike have been left to contend with 3fthigh piles of rubbish outside their front doors.
Mountains of refuse built up in inner-city Medley Road in Birmingham after households were forced to wait three weeks for a collection due to continuing industrial action by refuse collectors.
They claimed the rubbish – piled high in black bin bags – was attracting vermin in an area where the terraced properties are not provided with wheelie bins. It revived memories of the 1978-79 winter of discontent when piles of waste built up in streets during widespread public sector strikes.
The city-wide bin strike in Birmingham has seen volunteers take to some streets to tackle the waste. A deal between the Labour-run council and the Unite union to halt the strike unravelled last month after the authority realised it could lead to ‘significant potential financial implications’.
But after the rubbish mountain in the Sparkhill side street was highlighted by a local paper yesterday, council contractors arrived to clear the health hazard away.
Pauline Taylor, 71, who lives on Medley Road, said: ‘The mess was terrible. They have just been out to clear it all up. The council must have been shamed into doing it. This was the first time in at least three weeks that we’ve had a collection.’ Neighbour Osaid Mohammed, 27, said: ‘It’s been really bad in this area. It’s filthy and the smell is horrendous.
‘They seem to be leaving the inner city areas to rot, quite literally. Wealthier suburbs, such as Moseley and Edgbaston, do not seem so badly affected.’
Before the rubbish was cleared a mother living in the road told the Birmingham Mail that she and her family were finding the smell unbearable on the school run. ‘It’s so smelly, and all sorts of creatures are being attracted,’ she said. Refuse workers started strike action on June 30 over job regrading and shift patterns affecting up to 120 staff. The action was suspended on August 16 when conciliation service Acas said the council had agreed certain posts would not be made redundant. Workers resumed their strike on September 1 after the council said it was issuing redundancy notices to 106 staff. The council says the restructuring of the service would save £5million per year. The union believes the redundancies are unlawful and is applying for an injunction. The action has seen staff striking for three hours a day and returning to the depot for all lunch and tea breaks. It is due to end on September 21, but Unite is balloting staff over further action. The council said Medley Road was part of a ward which was always scheduled to be cleared yesterday and today. A spokesman said a ‘ mix of wards’ are tackled daily.