Shame on Brighton and Hove City Council for even contemplating to negotiate a lower rate of pay with the binmen.

Doesn’t the council realise these people are truly the most important workers in the city?

They keep our streets clean and take away the tons of rubbish we accumulate – and that’s not counting the hordes of tourists who contribute to the waste.

Can you think of anyone who is more valuable in the community?

Is it the estate agents, pizza palaces, endless boutiques, greasy fish and chip shops, the nightclubs and bars which endlessly churn out alcohol-fuelled customers into our streets, or the shops which sell those mindless gadgets one sees everywhere? I think not.

I suggest our councillors take a day off and work beside these people to see what their day entails. They would soon settle the dispute.

Give these workers a decent living wage and some respect.

Pushing a biro and picking up a telephone is no comparison to these hard-working bin men.

Shame again.

Victor Roman, Gloucester Road, Brighton

Rather than wasting our increasingly limited money on over-engineered white elephants such as the Old Shoreham Road cycle lanes, can the council pay a bit more for essential services like our refuse collection?

Richard Simpson, Buckingham Road, Brighton

It’s Brighton Festival time and there are people here from all over the country and perhaps even the world – and this is what they see and will remember of our city. How disgustingly messy, unclean and unkempt it is.

There is no excuse for this, whatever the grievance, valid or otherwise. They clearly have no pride in the city or in the job they do and, as such, don’t deserve to be heard or listened to, let alone rewarded.

My heart says sack the lot of them – they clearly don’t appreciate the job they have, and I’m sure there’s a queue of others who would be more than happy to do the work. Unfortunately my head reminds me they have the “protection” of a union, so can get away with this mindless blackmail.

JM, address supplied