{"id":133602,"date":"2025-04-13T23:51:58","date_gmt":"2025-04-13T23:51:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/mountains-of-trash-and-cat-size-rats-as-garbage-workers-strike-in-u-k-s-second-largest-city-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2025-04-13T23:51:58","modified_gmt":"2025-04-13T23:51:58","slug":"mountains-of-trash-and-cat-size-rats-as-garbage-workers-strike-in-u-k-s-second-largest-city-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/mountains-of-trash-and-cat-size-rats-as-garbage-workers-strike-in-u-k-s-second-largest-city-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Mountains of trash and 'cat-size' rats as garbage workers strike in U.K.'s second-largest city – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\u201cYou\u2019re not getting little rats anymore,\u201d one resident told NBC News. \u201cThey\u2019re getting cat-size.\u201d
BIRMINGHAM, England \u2014 A thick stench filled the air as Ghulam Murtaza Qureshi pointed to the huge pile of garbage rotting steps away from the entrance of his fast-food joint in Birmingham, B<\/a>ritain\u2019s second<\/a>-largest<\/a> city<\/a>.\u00a0
\u201cHow can I open my shop now?\u201d Qureshi, 49, told NBC News last week. \u201cIt\u2019s a food business, and there\u2019s rubbish everywhere.\u201d\u00a0
Worse than the pungent smell, he said, were the \u201crats and mice,\u201d whose population has grown exponentially as the thousands of tons of waste have gotten bigger and bigger during a six-week standoff between striking garbage truck workers and the Birmingham City Council over pay. \u201cIt\u2019s now a health issue,\u201d Qureshi said.\u00a0
So bad is the situation that local lawmakers declared a \u201cmajor incident\u201d this month in the city, where some residents say their quality of life is worse than in developing countries and hold it up as an example of \u201cBroken Britain\u201d <\/a>\u2014 which is how some describe the perceived widespread social decay of the U.K. and the breakdown of public services in the country.
\u201cYou\u2019re not getting little rats anymore,\u201d Charlie Wilson, 31, said as she sat on her front porch. \u201cThey\u2019re getting cat-size.\u201d She added that the smell \u2014 which has only gotten worse as spring temperatures have risen \u2014 was making her sick.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
The dispute began in January after the Birmingham City Council decided to scrap the role of waste, recycling and collection officer (WRCO), offering either voluntary redundancy or lower-paid jobs to workers.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
Unite, the union representing the garbage truck workers, has argued that the job is \u201csafety critical\u201d and <\/strong>that the cut would affect about 150 workers, some of whom would lose out on 8,000 pounds ($10,400) in yearly wages. Other workers would lose out on pay progression, the union said.
On the picket line at a waste and recycling plant in Tyseley, fears about pay were clear among the striking workers, who walked off the job on March 11.
\u201cIf my wages drop and the rents keep going up, I could potentially lose my family home,\u201d said Wendy Yarnold, 51, a single mom of three.\u00a0
Her colleague David Callaghan, 57, said he\u2019d worked as a refuse collector for more than three decades. \u201cWe love what we do, and we want to get back out to work. But we just want to be able to earn a fair day\u2019s pay for a fair day\u2019s work,\u201d he said.
The council, meanwhile, has pointed out that the WRCO role does not exist in other councils and has disputed the number of staff members affected and the amount of money involved.
\u201cWe stress that no worker need lose any money,\u201d a spokesperson said in an email, adding: \u201cAll workers have been offered alternative employment at the same pay, driver training or voluntary redundancy. That offer remains open.\u201d
The origins of the dispute date to 2023, when the council effectively had to declare itself bankrupt, partly as a result of equal pay cases brought by workers. It subsequently had to make budget cuts of around 300 million pounds ($393 million), and the cost-cutting was so severe that today, it is providing only services required by law, including waste collection.
In many ways, Birmingham, where 46% of children live in poverty \u2014 more than double the national average \u2014 is a microcosm of Britain, where economic growth has been stagnant since the Covid-19 pandemic<\/a>, homelessness is on the rise, and public services and health care are crumbling.
After the Labour Party came into power last year after 14 years of Conservative rule, Prime Minister Keir Starmer<\/a>, during his first speech on Downing Street, vowed to fix a country that had been drained of \u201chope, the spirit and the belief in a better future.\u201d\u00a0
Last week, Starmer, whose party runs the Birmingham City Council and has traditionally been affiliated with unions, called the situation \u201ccompletely unacceptable.\u201d
There has been little sign that the situation will be resolved any time soon.\u00a0
Some frustrated Birmingham residents have taken the problem into their own hands by driving to the Tyseley waste facility, where the strikes are ongoing, or other waste pits near the <\/strong>area to dispose of their garbage.\u00a0
But <\/strong>Abdul Sami, 37, said that doing so requires residents to book a slot online and that <\/strong>so many had come up with the same plan that now hardly any slots are available to the public.\u00a0
Letters of complaint had gone unanswered, he said, adding that in April the council tax, a local levy issued by the city, had \u201cgone up, which obviously we have to pay.\u201d\u00a0
Others like Solomon Zia, 38, said negotiators at the council need to evaluate their own worth before they looked at the garbage men. \u201cWill those in suits come out and collect bins early in the morning?\u201d he asked.\u00a0
In the meantime, he was learning to live with the one population in Birmingham that is thriving.
\u201cI\u2019m a big lad,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I\u2019m afraid when it comes to mice and rats, I can\u2019t do anything.\u201d
Astha Rajvanshi is a reporter for NBC News Digital, based in London. Previously, she worked as a staff writer covering international news for TIME.
© 2025 NBCUniversal Media, LLC<\/p>\n

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