Man 'Celebrates' 50th Day Of Local Rubbish Collection Strikes

Birmingham's ongoing bin strike might have turned the city's streets into a tip, but one local resident has managed to see the funny side of it.

Adam Cartwright, a 43 year old Brummie, decked his still unemptied bin with Happy Birthday decorations to celebrate the 50th day of the strike.

Swathes of the Midlands city have been without regular collections for a month and a half now after workers went took industrial action to protest against the sacking of 100 people in the waste collection teams.

Credit: Caters

The trade union that represents the workers, Unite, has been in dispute with Birmingham City Council for some time, but it was announced recently that collections will resume shortly after the strike was suspended.

The council released a statement saying that they were 'pleased to be recommencing industrial relations and pleased that the bin collection can resume without disruption' following mediation talks with Acas, the conciliation service.

Birmingham Council climbed down over plans to sack workers and now there are no redundancy plans in place, while the union agreed in principle that it would not block moves to a five day working week. Talks will continue over topics such as service improvement, efficiency and savings.

"We are very pleased that we have reached the stage where we can suspend the industrial action while we hold further talks about the future of the refuse service" said Unite assistant general secretary Howard Beckett.

"I know this news will be greatly welcomed by the people of Birmingham as they look forward to their bins being collected again on a regular and seamless basis. I would like to thank them for their understanding over recent weeks.

"The council has addressed our members' concerns, including the safeguarding of the Grade 3 post that is vital to the safety at the rear of the refuse vehicles.

"Unite also welcomes the fact that our suspended rep is now returning to work. Unite recognises - and deplores - that local government in England has suffered swingeing cuts to its funding since the Tories came to power in 2010.

"Finally, I would like to thank our members for the solidarity they have shown in defence of a decent and well-resourced refuse collection in Birmingham, and their stand against job cuts and massive cuts to their wages.

We will be entering into these Acas talks in a constructive and positive fashion - and recognise that there is still much hard work to be done," he added.

Topics: Birmingham

James Dawson

James Dawson is a Journalist at LADbible. He has contributed articles to LADbible’s ‘Knowing Me, Knowing EU’ series on the EU referendum, the 'Electoral Dysfunction' series on the 2017 general election, the ‘U OK M8?’ series tackling mental health amongst young men, and for its ‘Climate Change’ initiative in partnership with National Geographic.

@thejaytoday