A London borough has become rubbish-ridden, creating apocalyptic scenes and claims the area “smells like p***”.
Tower Hamlets in the east of the capital has seen its streets lined with rubbish after refuse collectors working for the borough went on strike over pay. Waste service workers were planning to strike from 18 September to 1 October as part of a wider national pay dispute. This has however now been extended by a further two weeks as an acceptable offer has not been made to the workers.
In the wake of the strikes however are mountains of refuse that have been described by some market stall traders as akin to “Mount Everest,”London Worldreports. Online, people have been expressing their shock at the matter too, with one person posting an image on Reddit of a huge pile of rubbish stacked up with the caption, “Whitechapeler’s; what the hell is going on? It smells like p*** as soon as you step out the station, and there’s rubbish everywhere”.
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One person commented, “Jack the Tipper,” while another added, “There's a reason it's the cheapest rent in Monopoly.”
Another simply said: "It’s a s*** hole end off".
“Hopefully it’s resolved soon,” one person said, with another chipping in, “Solidarity with the bin man dem”.
Tower Hamlets Council today released an update on its website saying that it had recruited third-party refuse collectors to start chipping away at the piles of junk. Some of the heaps have formed on Whitechapel Road, not far from the Tower Hamlets Council HQ. The Unite Union said in August that 23 councils had backed strikes from refuse collectors after workers rejected an initial £1,925 flat pay increase.
In a bid to reassure residents that the mounting piles of garbage would be dealt with, the council posted on its website: “Starting today (Saturday 23) private waste company Bywaters will be clearing the build-up of waste. We are prioritising high-rise buildings, markets, commercial areas and main highways.
“We are reallocating staff who are not participating in the strike to cover missed collections. “We are clearing parks and disposing of waste. Tower Hamlets Homes are taking waste from their estates to the disposal site. We have staff on the street ensuring waste is contained in specific areas and that litter does not escape.”
Lutfur Rahman, Executive Mayor of Tower Hamlets, said: “We value our frontline staff and know how hard they work. This strike is a national pay dispute and not limited to local issues. It is in fact a response to the very real cost-of-living crisis felt by families up and down the country.
“Naturally we are disappointed by the strike as keeping Tower Hamlets’ streets clean and litter-free is our priority. We apologise to our residents and businesses and want to assure them we are doing our best to maintain services throughout.”
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