Capital Economy, Business and Finance
Rubbish will go on piling up on the streets of Birmingham after union members rejected the city council’s improved pay offer to its bin men.
“Men” may be the operative word. Most of the city's refuse collectors are male and its finances are even more straitened than usual after a £250 million verdict against it in a 2023 claim alleging a gender pay gap.
If the council were to blink and improve its offer again it could create the conditions for another nine-figure equal pay claim.
It also lost £100 million in the drawn-out failure of a new IT system from Oracle that was meant to streamline payroll, finance, procurement and HR, but didn’t.
After more than a month without collection, the piles of stuffed bin-liners on Birmingham’s streets are said to be attracting rats the size of cats.
Photo credit: Ryan Jenkinson/Getty Images
