From MarginalRevolution:
In 2010 an employment tribunal ruled that Birmingham City Council had discriminated against thousands (6,000) of female workers — cooks, cleaners, care assistants, caretakers — who were denied bonuses paid to the mostly male binmen, gardeners, and gravediggers (400). Why were the binmen given bonuses? Well, refuse collection is filthy, heavy, outdoor work and not many people want to be gravediggers.
Birmingham went bankrupt when they had to pay the bonuses to the 6,000 women and they went bankrupt. Then they eliminated the bonuses paid to the men, who then went on strike. Then:
The council hired an outside contractor to take over its rubbish collection and it now pays roughly triple its pre-strike outsourcing bill..
