00:00Rubbish has been piling up in Birmingham for most of this year, but what began as a row over one job title has become a lung bin strike, a major incident and a public health warning as vermin work through black bags on pavements.
00:14The dispute centres on the waste recycling and collection officer role. Unite says around 150 workers could lose up to £8,000 a year if it goes.
00:22The council says only 17 staff are directly affected, that nobody has to take a pay cut and that the post risks new equal pay claims in a council already hit by old ones.
00:34Behind the jargon is a simple equation. A bankrupt authority is trying to unwind a deal from the last bin strike and a workforce that remembers it is digging in.
00:42Talks have stalled and relations are sour. On the streets the impact's obvious. Recycling grounds have been scrapped or thinned out. Landfill has soared.
00:52And poorer neighborhoods report the worst piles of rubbish and fly-tipping.
00:57Now there's a new twist. Agency crews hired through Job and Talent say they have been bullied and ranked at work.
01:04From the 1st of December most of them plan to join the strike, adding pressure on a service that is already barely coping.
01:10Council figures put the cost of this dispute at around £14 million and climbing, as other services are cut back.
01:18That leaves a blunt question for those in charge at the council house and in Whitehall.
01:23How long can this standoff drag on and what sort of waste service will Birmingham be left with when it finally ends?
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