thank you, carol drinkwater there. thank you, carol drinkwater there.ngham because of a dispute between the council and bin collectors. now volunteers have started clearing the streets themselves. refuse workers have been taking strike action because of disagreements about working conditions. 0ur midlands correspondent seema kotecha reports. piles of rubbish outside homes and shops in birmingham. the smell of rotting food and human waste is no stranger to some parts of the city since bin workers went on strike five weeks ago. they say it's over conditions and pay cuts. each day they strike for three hours. and at this florist, it is causing alarm. it is unsightly and it is unhealthy for anybody. we have got rats around here. we have got foxes around here. and every day it is a question of re—bagging stuff and re—sorting stuff and making sure that it is as tidy as we can keep it. we pay for this service quarterly, in advance, and it's not cheap either. for them to just not do it and ignore us isjust very bad. this pile of rubbish is sat next to a chinese