Militant union leaders masterminding Birmingham bin strikes from clean and green streets

The leaders of Birmingham bin strike action that has left tonnes of rubbish piling up in the UK's second city do not live in the city and are enjoying having their waste collected as normal, it has emerged. Hundreds of workers have stopped working since March 11 in protest against Birmingham City Council's plans to cut the role of waste recycling collection officer (WRCO). Sharon Graham, Unite's general secretary, lives in west London, more 130 miles away from Birmingham.

The 56-year-old is said to have sidelined Unite figures in the West Midlands, and had an overall "hardline" approach to the dispute, accusing the government of "peddling untruths" and "focusing on winning a media war". Even local figures do not live in the city affected, with Unite's West Midlands Regional Secretary Annmarie Kilcline, 61, living 50 miles away in a Victorian detatched home in the town of Beeston in Nottinghamshire.

that her husband was seen putting out the bins before they were collected the following day.

Clare Keogh, the union's local government spokeswoman, says her home is in Kingston upon Thames.

This is some 130 miles from Birmingham. Bins and recycling there are collected every two weeks, with food waste removed once a week.

Unite's national lead, Onay Kasab, 58, lives in a three-bedroom semi-detached house on a tree-lined avenue in Welling, Kent, 150 miles away from Birmingham.

Recycling, household waste and brown garden waste bins are collected there every fortnight.

Mr Kasab said when asked about the fact that none of the main Unite organisers live in Birmingham: "Where I live, not so long ago, there was a dispute involving refuse workers and my bins didn't get emptied.

"It didn't mean that I stopped supporting those refuse workers."

Zoe Mayou is Unite's regional officer for the West Midlands. She lives in a new build semi detached house in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, which is 30 miles from the city.

Speaking on her doorstep, she said: "There have always been rats, don't they say you're always only six feet away from a rat?"

Birmingham City Council's bin boss has urged union members to reconsider its "very, very fair offer" as residents report seeing "cat-sized rats".

A Unite spokesperson told the Express: "Unite makes no apologies for defending our members from these horrific attacks on their pay.

"Some of these low paid workers face losing up to a quarter of their wages - that's the real story here."