Peterborough and Sheffield are among places most likely to be hit next by piles of uncollected rubbish – and possible rat invasions could cause significant health issues in the city
Britain faces a plague of rats after union chiefs warned Birmingham’s bin strikes could spread. Sharon Graham, boss of Unite, said she would give the green light for action if cash-strapped councils targeted workers.
Asked about other strike action, Ms Graham said: “If other councils decide to make low-paid workers pay for bad decisions that they did not make, workers paying the price yet again, then absolutely.”
Peterborough and Sheffield are among places most likely to be hit next by piles of uncollected rubbish – and possible rat invasions. A strike is already taking place in the South Yorkshire city. The warning came after Unite members rejected Birmingham City council’s second offer to settle their dispute which saw workers walk out on March 11.
More than 5,000 tonnes of rubbish remains uncollected in the city – sparking rat infestations and fears for public health.
Rats were seen scurrying between bin bags once against yesterday in the inner-city Sparkbrook area.
Birmingham City Council declared a major incident last month amid fears for public health posed by the rubbish.
A revised offer put forward by council chiefs was slammed as “totally inadequate” by Unite, whose members voted by 97% against.
Workers in Yorkshire and Cambridgeshire are embroiled in similar disputes and some Unite staff in Sheffield are already on strike.
A senior union source told the Daily Telegraph that several local authorities were in similar situations to Birmingham.
They said it was “not inconceivable” that other bin workers with the GMB union could soon go on strike in Peterborough.
The Daily Star recently reported that the all-out strike, which began on March 11 as part of a dispute over pay, has seen thousands of tonnes of rubbish go uncollected and warnings of a public health emergency.
Military experts have even been drafted in to deal with the escalating rubbish crisis in Birmingham as the major bin strike has left the city swamped in stinking waste.
It has resulted in thousands of tonnes of uncollected trash and sparked fears of a public health disaster.
A Government spokesperson announced that military planners were called upon “in light of the ongoing public health risk”. They clarified that the deployment would involve a “small number of office-based military personnel with operation planning expertise”.
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