Birmingham council 'on track' to clear waste backlog

Birmingham City Council says it is on track to clear a backlog of uncollected waste by the weekend, despite the ongoing dispute with the Unite union.

Craig Cooper, strategic director of city operations, said collections would focus first on "the poorest parts" of the city "affected the most" by the ongoing bin strike.

Striking workers have held a rally a day after Unite union members rejected the city council's latest pay offer.

Mr Cooper said the amount of uncollected waste had peaked at 22,000 tonnes, but he expected to be back to "one household collection every week" for all residents by the weekend.

Mr Cooper described it as "disappointing" an agreement had not been reached with Unite and urged them to "come back to the table" to end the dispute.

More negotiations between the two sides are expected to take place on Wednesday.

The dispute centres around the council's decision to remove Waste Recycling and Collection Officer roles from some bin workers.

On Monday, workers voted to reject the council's latest offer, which Unite said was "totally inadequate" and also did not address potential pay cuts for 200 drivers.

A council spokesperson said the offer was fair and included options for affected workers.

The rally started at 10:30 BST outside the council house and Unite confirmed that a petition containing 3,000 signatures was handed in during the event.

Dozens of Unite officials, bin workers and supporters turned up to the rally, which included speeches from union figures and striking staff.

There were cheers and loud horns from the crowd, who held up placards and flags.

Violet Williams, a Small Heath resident who was using the waste centre, said she felt "awful" when she saw photos of bin bags piling up on the city's streets, which have made headlines around the world.

Ms Williams, who does not have a car, was dropping her rubbish off at the centre before taking a bus to collect more rubbish from her 92-year-old mother.