BIRMINGHAM Council’s declaration of a major incident over waste collection is about making the lowest paid pay for politicians’ mistakes, Unite has warned.

With refuse workers on the picket lines over pay cuts, the city council announced on Monday that it had a contingency plan to collect waste from properties across the city once a week using agency workers.

Council leader Cllr John Cotton said it was “regrettable that we have had to take this step, but we cannot tolerate a situation that is causing harm and distress to communities across Birmingham.