Rubbish is piling up in Brick Lane as Tower Hamlets Council’s workers continue their strike action into a second week.
Waste collectors are not completing bin rounds in a dispute with the local authority over pay that led to a walkout beginning on September 18.
Some of the owners of the restaurants and cafes that make Brick Lane famous have been telling the Evening Standard that they are now paying hundreds for private collections.
Waste is normally collected twice a day from the busy market street but now the lane and Tower Hamlets as a whole has gone one week without a collection.
This is all we know about the issue.
Why are bin collectors striking?
Unite the Union said more than 200 workers had rejected a national flat rate pay rise of £1,925 because it is below inflation and “amounts to real terms pay cut”.
Tower Hamlets council said private waste company, Bywaters, began clearing some of the build-up of rubbish on Saturday and would be prioritising high rise buildings, markets, commercial areas and main highways.
The borough’s mayor Lutfur Rahman 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.
“We apologise to our residents and businesses and want to assure them we are doing our best to maintain services throughout.”
When are Tower Hamlets workers striking?
The strike began on September 18 and will be continuing until October 1.
Mr Rahman was previously council leader for Labour but has returned to the helm under his new Aspire party.
Leader of the Tower Hamlets’ Labour group Sirajul Islam said: “We are 11 months into Lutfur Rahman’s waste emergency – one created by a service struggling with low morale, short staffing, and poor working conditions.
“We have a mayor who is more than happy to increase his own personal office costs by £5m but can’t find the money for some of our lowest paid workers.”
