The Peaky Blinders' city is infested with rats due to a garbage strike.

BirminghamWhen it rains cats and dogs, in English you can say, among other expressions, "It's raining cats and dogs". A literal translation, which makes no sense in Catalan, would be: "It's raining cats and dogs." In Birmingham, the second largest city in the United Kingdom, what is falling now are rats and cats, not cats and dogs. ,000 tons of rubbish, the result of the four weeks of uninterrupted strike by municipal service workers, which are added to the days of intermittent stoppages they have carried out since January 4. The situation is so serious from the point of view of public health that last Monday, the local authority of the capital the city of the Peaky Blindersdeclared a state of emergency. So far, nothing has been noticed; everything remains the same, residents complain. In some districts and neighborhoods—Aston, Small Heath, Witton, Acocks Green, Bordesley Green, and Allens Cross—the problem is more than evident. These are areas where residents often lack the resources to pay for a private cleaning service—it can cost up to 240 pounds a week—and where they also cannot rent construction containers to accumulate bags and more bags while waiting for the conflict to be resolved.

Acocks Green is a neighborhood in the southeast. It's home to Israr Ul Haq, a 53-year-old professional driver. Last Wednesday, he helplessly complained to this reporter about how the situation has deteriorated. "I can't leave my house without having to cover my nose because of the stench." Israr says he's seen rats in his neighborhood. In broad daylight. Rose Shim, a university student living in Small Heath, also in the southeast, said the same: "Rats are running everywhere, large rats the length of my arm. And I can see pigeons batting among the garbage. This is a big problem."

Glaring sun and high temperatures

Perhaps more fortunately, this journalist hasn't encountered these little creatures on his walks up and down the city. But he has been able to perceive a truly unpleasant stench in some areas. A series of days of dazzling sunshine and higher-than-usual temperatures for the time of year have contributed to the rotting of accumulated food scraps scattered on the ground. These scraps attract rodents, cats that chase them, and also foxes, some of which prowl many cities across the country—including London—and not necessarily in the more suburban districts.

Aston, another working-class residential area, this time in the north, has been similarly impacted by the strike. Many of its streets lack even a small front yard—front yard–, aggravates the situation. Because there's no room for the bins, which pile up on the sidewalks and dump all kinds of filth.

Aston is home to Villa Park, the stadium where Premier League team Aston Villa plays. And just two streets away from the Doug Ellis Stand, the entrance to the Yew Tree Community School nursery school demonstrates the seriousness of the situation. A small, frightening mountain of rubbish has accumulated at its gates. A situation that, for obvious reasons, neither the school's management nor the parents who bring the children there like at all, as Aisha Shabir, one of the preschool teachers, told ARA. "We can't do anything; it's shameful," she said, taking the situation with resigned helplessness and indignation.

A walk through Aston or Witton, a nearby neighborhood, or anywhere outside the city center—around New Station Street—tells you that what's happening in front of the nursery is nothing out of the ordinary. You see everything in every corner. Refrigerators, sofas, slices of pizza, pizza boxes, trash piled up in hallways you don't want to go into, cans, clothes. For now, Birmingham residents can't even prevent passersby from knowing their eating habits: fast food, lots of Coca-Cola, lots of carbonated drinks, and also lots of beer.

Economic problems

The origin of the conflict is economic. The workers, well-organized around the Unite union, are protesting proposed changes to the workforce. The council wants to eliminate the position of waste collection and recycling officer, who is part of the teams and also ensures their safety. The proposal has sparked anger among workers due to the potential pay cuts it entails. Unite maintains that around 150 members of the 400-person workforce could face cuts of up to €9,500. However, the council maintains that alternative locations have been offered without less pay or incentive redundancies. The annual salary of these cleaners, depending on their responsibilities, amounts to between €27,300 and €33,000.

The conflict is the latest in a string of problems for a council controlled by Labour since 2012. Just a year ago, the municipality imposed what became popularly known as rat rate, an extra €28 tax justified as helping control rodent infestations, which are now roaming free again. However, it was actually an attempt to increase tax revenue, as the local council is catastrophically in the red.

With a deficit exceeding €4 billion—the largest in the country—the city council was forced to declare bankruptcy. All of this has led to countless cuts in social services and a 21% increase in the local tax that all households must pay, in addition to the rat levy. Paying far more for far fewer services—and an essential one like rubbish collection—stirs frustration, worry, and outrage. The central government is considering intervening to end the crisis.