A strike by cleaners in Birmingham, England, has left 17,000 tons of garbage piling up on the streets. The city council launched an emergency plan to deploy 35 additional vehicles and seek support from neighboring municipalities and the government.
Mayor John Cotton stated that striking workers were blocking waste collection vehicles, making cleanup efforts difficult. The Unite union began an indefinite strike on March 11 over job cuts and wage reductions, with negotiations failing to resolve the dispute.