Birmingham - the rodent problem?!

[Nineafter]

My daughter has heard horror stories from Birmingham students about the rats there (due to bin men strike). It's been all over the news too. It is putting her off applying to Birmingham Uni tbh so I just wondered is it really that bad? I understand the council is bankrupt so unlikely to be resolved any time soon? Any insight appreciated

It's not affecting the campus as far as I've heard, so it wouldn't affect your DD in first year anyway as the main place affected is Selly Oak. She could choose not to live there in second year, it's just one of the student areas, but I can't see it not being resolved 2 years from now.

It’s a temporary thing, surely? Any city or large town could have a bin men strike. It’s not significant enough to change course choices really.

So someone who lives in Birmingham, no this should not stop her applying to UoB at all. The strike will likely be over in next few months. I can't imagine the university management allowing the campus to become riddled with rats, they're very proud of how pretty their campus is.

DS at Birmingham in halls. Not seen a single rat.

No rats reported here either

It's sensationalism.

The Council are actually managing rubbish collection really well, despite the binmen thinking they can hold the City to ransom. (and I'm not one to big up the Council generally)

I was at Cardiff Uni last week. First thing I saw was a seagull attempting to fly off with a huge rat. I have rats in my workplace and near my house.
Rats are everywhere.

DS is at Birmingham. The rubbish is piling up . But rat sightings in Selly are not new. The issue can be useless landlords.

My daughter is in her final year at Brum, living in Selly Oak for the past 2 years.
Last year, her housemates saw a couple of rats in the garden, but that’s not unique to Birmingham - I live in a (comparative) rural idyll and have seen the odd rat in my garden. My cat has even brought one in alive and let it go in the house, where it lived happily for a couple of weeks until it couldn’t resist a bit of frankfurter in a trap…

You are never further than a couple of meters from rats,statistically, they say, wherever you live - it’s not like the houses in Birmingham are being overrun with them.

It's sensationalism.

The Council are actually managing rubbish collection really well, despite the binmen thinking they can hold the City to ransom. (and I'm not one to big up the Council generally).

It's not sensationalism and the council aren't 'managing it well' at all.

I work in Washwood Heath and had to drive to Smethwick this afternoon. A lot of areas had huge heaps of black bags piled in the streets. It was minging.

But as others have said, the city centre is fine. There's aren't many residential properties there and businesses wouldn't use the council's domestic waste collection. They'd have 1100L wheelie bins and use a trade waste company like Biffa.

Hopefully, the council stop taking the piss and reinstate the former positions. It's a joke that they implemented a new advancement path for operatives after the 2017 strikes and then canned it as soon as they thought the smoke had cleared, reducing many of the operatives already lowish salaries by almost 25%.

I certainly wouldn't be prepared to 'share the burden' when the people proposing it weren't going to lose a penny themselves and when the salary was already significantly below that of trade waste companies like Biffs/Veolia/Suez.

The bin men seem to strike every couple of years in Birmingham, it’s not a one off. There are plenty of unaffected areas though, and the halls will be serviced by the university’s maintenance team if all else fails.

They caved to the unions in 2017, creating a role that no other Council in the land has, to bribe the binmen back into work.
This then reignited the sex discrimination issue over which millions had been paid out earlier, due to equivalent roles being overwhelmingly done by men being paid more than roles traditionally done by women. Hence fresh claims of sex discrimination, and more money being drained from a Council that had 40% of it's budget cut under the Tory Gvmnt.

Unlike the other people involved in the 13,000 jobs lost to Bham City jobs cuts since 2010, where roles were deleted, and people had to apply for their own jobs and only half got them as the posts weren't there anymore, the bin men have been given special treatment already, with every one of them guaranteed a choice of expensive driver training courses, or other jobs on the same money.
Overwhelmingly the people in this position have accepted the offers - seeing them for what they are, a MUCH better deal than anyone else whose role has gone, was offered. 17 people have said no, and this is what the dispute is about.

CarpetKnees is spot on. It's 17 people holding a city to ransom.

Tbf the 'equivalent' jobs weren't really equivalent at all.

A refuse collector is the second most dangerous job in the UK. Cleaners aren't even in the top 20. And cleaners don't generally get out of bed at 03:30am and work in the rain and cold with impatient car drivers mounting the kerb and whizzing by their elbows.

But I'll agree it's a bit kerfuffle over 17 people. But even the drivers struggle to break £30k. When I worked at Biffa they were well into the £40k's. Guys on the evening shift were on about £18.50 p/h once including shift allowance and could hit £50k with a bit of overtime/Saturday work.

uk.indeed.com/career-advice/finding-a-job/most-dangerous-jobs

And women are free to drive bin trucks if they want. It's just that they don't really seem interested for some reason. 🤔

I drove through selly oak the other day and it didn’t seem to be overrun with rubbish or rats

It would be foolish not to apply to a preferred university over (what is expected to be) a temporary issue.