Mountains of trash and 'cat-size' rats as garbage workers strike in U.K.'s second largest city

Unite, the union representing the garbage truck workers, has argued that the job is “safety critical” and the cut would affect about 150 workers, some of whom would lose out on 8,000 pounds ($10,400) in yearly wages. Other workers would lose out on pay progression, the union said.

On the picket line at a waste and recycling plant in Tyseley, fears about pay were clear among the striking workers, who walked off the job on March 11.

“If my wages drop and the rents keep going up, I could potentially lose my family home,” Wendy Yarnold, 51, a single mom of three, said. 

Her colleague David Callaghan, 57, said he’d worked as a refuse collector for more than three decades. “We love what we do, and we want to get back out to work. But we just want to be able to earn a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work,” he added.