He was a bin man for 23 years, then his son died and his pay was cut by £500 a month

In October last year, Adrian Hyde's son tragically passed away from sepsis. Five weeks later, in a haze of grief, Adrian opened a letter from his employer, Birmingham City Council.

The letter explained he was being 'downgraded' at work – a £6,000 pay cut. "I've worked for Birmingham City Council for 23 years," Adrian, 46, says. "First as a street cleaner for nine years, and the last 14 years as a bin man. I had just lost my son five weeks earlier. To be honest, my mind was not on my job or money, it was looking after my wife and two daughters."

But thanks to the pay cut he now faces, just months after losing his 27-year-old son, Adrian now fears losing his home of 18 years too. "I am now £500 a month worse off – and that is really going to hit me," he says. "It could put me and my family out on the street. How can you just wake up one morning and lose £500 a month?"

Since the Birmingham bin dispute began in January, the smell of rat-infested rubbish has spread across a city sweltering in a heatwave – along with a toxic war of words. Birmingham City Council – the biggest local authority in Europe – declared itself bankrupt in 2023, after years suffering under the unprecedented cuts handed to councils by George Osborne’s Austerity plan, and council mismanagement including a £1 billion equal pay claim.

READ MORE: City chief embroiled in Birmingham bin strike moves to award-winning 'clean' city

An all-out strike action by bin collectors began on 11 March in Birmingham, after Unite members claimed workers would face losing up to £8,000 a year due to the council's decision to remove Waste Recycling and Collection Officer (WRCO) roles. Last week negotiations broke down after the Labour council – led by controversial John Cotton – said it was walking away from talks at conciliation service ACAS, with some bin drivers now at risk of compulsory redundancy.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said that the council's proposals amount to using "fire and rehire". The union says the bin workers are striking over pay cuts of up to £8,000 – which in some cases is up a quarter of someone’s wages. Officials say that despite claiming to have negotiated in "good faith", Birmingham City Council were only at the negotiating table twice during eight weeks of talks.

Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner has since been dragged into a row where ordinary Birmingham families just want their bins collected and workers just want to be paid fairly. In an ordinary week, the city's waste teams would make more than half a million collections using 200 vehicles.

For Adrian, Birmingham City Council’s timing could have not been worse. He says he was given the choice of taking voluntary redundancy, moving to street cleaning or being downgraded in his current job – at a time when his mental health was under terrible stress.

"I broke down in tears with my gaffer saying I couldn’t make a decision," he says. "I was being forced to make a decision after losing my child. I couldn't even think straight – my mind was not in any fit state. They said I had until Monday to make a decision about work.

"It’s been a really hard 10 months. You have to play it day by day, some days are worse than others. No parent should have to bury their child – and my daughters were very close with their brother. I took two weeks compassionate leave, followed by three weeks off-sick. I actually could have taken six months off – but I did the right thing and came back to work. I wanted to do the right thing."

Adrian has already taken on a second job in a pub, but he says it's not still not enough – especially as he says the £6,000 he has lost comes on top of a previous pay reduction. "The year before I had £1,500 taken off me from my night allowance, which we got for the early starts, so in theory I've lost £7,500 in the last two years, so £600 a month. Who can afford to replace that?"

Cllr John Cotton, leader of the city council, said the council has "reached the absolute limit" of what it can offer the bin workers. He added: "We have negotiated in good faith but unfortunately Unite has rejected all offers so we must now press ahead to both address our equal pay risk and make much needed improvements to the waste service. This is a service that has not been good enough for a long time and we must improve it.

"Unite’s demands would leave us with another equal pay bill of hundreds of millions of pounds, which is totally unacceptable, and would jeopardise the considerable progress we have made in our financial recovery. Successive administrations have failed to close off the council's equal pay liabilities, costing the people of Birmingham hundreds of millions of pounds and that must end now."

A spokesperson added: "All Birmingham City Council employees who may be facing personal difficulties, including bereavement, are encouraged to seek the support that is available to them through our HR team. We are committed to offering support wherever we can and we encourage staff to reach out if they are struggling emotionally."

As well as sharing his story with the Mirror, Adrian has shared his story in an emotional video for Unite the Union, which represents the Birmingham bin workers. "We are grateful to Adrian for bravely sharing his story with us," Unite’s General Secretary Sharon Graham says. "It lays bare the reality of the proposed cuts – put simply, members like Adrian and their families cannot afford these huge losses to their monthly incomes.

"Our powerful video is a stark reminder that any of us could fall under the breadline if our employer decided to cut our wages without any negotiations. No worker should have to go through what Adrian and his colleagues are currently experiencing. We hope this film will make Birmingham Council sit up and listen to Unite. Putting families on the street would be a direct result of their hugely unfair and wrong cuts."

The striking workers have an industrial action mandate until December – meaning strikes could go on until Christmas if Birmingham City Council doesn’t return to the negotiating table.

Meanwhile, for Adrian, this is now a battle not just for bin workers but for council employees across Britain. "The last thing we wanted to do was go on strike," he says. "But we have to defend our rights. We’re not asking for more money, we’re asking to be kept on the same.

"And we are not just defending our jobs now, we’re defending everyone’s now at Birmingham City Council. We think they’ll downgrade every single job at the council. Some teachers have apparently received letters suggesting they may be downgraded too. Every single council across England is watching what Birmingham is doing – if one council does it, the rest will follow suit. So, we’re fighting for everyone’s job."